BREAKING: The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine has just been awarded a groundbreaking federal grant of up to $30.6 million to develop digital models of the human heart, marking a historic moment as the first research institution in the state to receive such funding. This urgent initiative, announced by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), aims to transform the drug testing landscape by simulating heart functions across various genetic profiles.
The grant, allocated over the next three years, will enable researchers to create advanced digital heart models designed for evaluating the safety and efficacy of new drugs. This step is crucial as traditional testing methods often fall short, leading to a high rate of failures in clinical trials. “Too many promising medicines fail late, after years of work and enormous cost, because our best tools still don’t reliably predict how a drug will behave in people,” stated Alicia Jackson, director of ARPA-H.
This funding is part of a larger national effort, with ARPA-H announcing support for eight innovative projects aimed at leveraging computer models that accurately mimic human biology. “With today’s awards, ARPA-H is backing cutting-edge teams to build human-based, AI-enabled models that can forecast drug safety and efficacy long before the first clinical trial,” Jackson added.
Matt Mahoney, the principal computational scientist at The Jackson Laboratory and lead investigator for the project, expressed his enthusiasm: “We’re tremendously excited. The idea of taking animal models out of pre-clinical safety evaluations and doing better with artificial intelligence and simulation is a tremendous opportunity.” He emphasized that this ambitious project would not be feasible without the substantial grant.
The urgency of this project cannot be understated. A significant cause of clinical trial failures is cardiotoxicity, where drugs negatively impact heart function. Mahoney revealed that the current reliance on animal models, which have been the standard for decades, often provides incomplete predictions. “Our project is using a combination of AI methods and human cellular models and physical simulation to design virtual human populations that we can use as a replacement for animal models to test for toxicity,” he explained.
Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, praised this historic award, highlighting its potential to drastically reduce drug development time and costs. “This more than $30 million grant is a testament to the incredible work happening at The Jackson Laboratory,” Collins remarked in a news release.
As The Jackson Laboratory prepares to embark on this ambitious journey, the implications for biomedical research are profound. This innovative approach not only represents a significant leap in drug safety testing but also reflects a broader shift towards utilizing artificial intelligence in healthcare.
The lab, which currently employs over 1,000 people, is expected to add new positions as this project progresses, signifying both a local economic boost and a vital contribution to global health advancements.
Stay tuned for further updates as this project unfolds, promising to reshape the future of drug testing and heart health research.
