The medical potential of AI and metabolites

In 2003,

when we sequenced the human genome,

we thought we would have the answer
to treat many diseases,

but the reality is far from that,

because in addition to our genes,

our environment and lifestyle

could have a significant role

in developing many major diseases.

One example is fatty liver disease,

which is affecting over 20 percent
of the population globally

and it has no treatment
and leads to liver cancer

or liver failure.

So sequencing DNA alone
doesn't give us enough information

to find effective therapeutics.

On the bright side, there are
many other molecules in our body.

In fact, there are
over 100,000 metabolites.

Metabolites are any molecule
that is super-small in their size.

Known examples are glucose,
fructose, fats, cholesterol,

things we hear all the time.

Metabolites are involved
in our metabolism.

They are also downstream of DNA,

so they carry information
from both our genes

as well as lifestyle.

Understanding metabolites is essential
to find treatments for many diseases.

I've always wanted to treat patients.

Despite that, 15 years ago
I left medical school,

as I missed mathematics.

Soon after, I found the coolest thing:

I can use mathematics to study medicine.

Since then, I've been developing
algorithms to analyze biological data.

So it sounded easy:

let's collect data from
all the metabolites in our body,

develop mathematical models to describe
how they are changed in a disease,

and intervene those changes to treat them.

Then I realized why no one
has done this before.

It's extremely difficult.

There are many metabolites in our body.

Each one is different from the other one.

For some metabolites,
we can measure their molecular mass

using mass spectrometry instruments,

but because there could be, like,
10 molecules with the exact same mass,

we don't know exactly what they are,

and if you want to clearly
identify all of them,

you have to do more experiments,
which could take decades

and billions of dollars.

So we developed
an artificial intelligence,

or AI, platform to do that.

We leveraged the growth of biological data

and built a database of any existing
information about metabolites

and their interactions
with other molecules.

We combined all this data
as a mega-network.

then, from tissues or blood of patients,

we measured masses of metabolites

and find the masses
that are changed in a disease.

But, as I mentioned earlier,
we don't know exactly what they are.

Like a molecular mass of 180 could be
the glucose, galactose, or fructose.

They all have the exact same mass,

but different functions in our body.

Our AI algorithm considered
all these ambiguities.

It then mined that mega-network

to find how those metabolic masses
are connected to each other

that result in disease,

and because of the way they are connected,

then we are able to infer
what each metabolite mass is,

like that 180 could be glucose here,

and more importantly to discover
how changes in glucose

and other metabolites

lead to a disease.

This novel understanding
of disease mechanisms

then enable us to discover
effective therapeutics to target that.

So we formed a startup company
to bring this technology to the market

and impacts people's lives.

Now, my team and I at ReviveMed
are working to discover

therapeutics for major diseases
that metabolites are key drivers for,

like fatty liver disease,

because it is caused
by accumulation of fats,

which are types of metabolites,

in the liver,

and as I mentioned earlier
is a huge epidemic with no treatment.

And fatty liver disease
is just one example.

Moving forward, we are going to tackle
hundreds of other diseases

with no treatment,

and by collecting more and more
data about metabolites

and understanding
how changes in metabolites

leads to developing diseases,

our algorithms will get
smarter and smarter

to discover the right therapeutics
for the right patients,

and we will get closer to reach our vision

of saving lives with every line of code.

Thank you.

(Applause)