Researchers working on the effectiveness of peptides often face long, repetitive and sometimes hazardous laboratory work, for instance when handling harmful substances. Chemist Timothy Noël previously developed RoboChem, an autonomous synthesis robot that uses AI to speed up the discovery of new molecules and can optimise around ten to twenty small molecules a week, work that would take a PhD candidate months. AI mainly helps the robot quickly identify which chemicals reinforce each other and which work against each other, something humans typically have to study one factor at a time.

In the new MMD TechHub project, Noël is working with assistant professor Andrea Gargano and associate professor Bob Pirok to adapt the robot, renamed RoboBioConjugator, for peptide optimisation. Because peptides are much larger molecules than the substances RoboChem currently works with, this requires integrated analytical instruments and a different approach, making Gargano and Pirok’s expertise in peptide analysis essential.