pjballester.bsky.social
@pjballester.bsky.social
Our new preprint. First prospective use of a transformer model for drug repurposing against Streptococcus pneumoniae, a major AMR threat. Great collaboration with Nick Croucher’s lab. Of 11 tested, 9 showed strong activity, some against multidrug‑resistant strains.
#AI #AMR
February 16, 2026 at 11:42 AM
Enjoyed reading "Hit identification in ultra large virtual screening: an integrative review and future challenges"
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
January 30, 2026 at 7:00 PM
So much done, so much more left to do: "Seven in 10 people now survive their cancer five years or more, up from only half in the mid-70s" pressroom.cancer.org/cancer-stati...
ACS Annual Statistics Report: Milestone 70 Percent 5-Year Survival Rate for all Cancers Combined; Largest Gains for Advanced and Fatal Cancers
ATLANTA, January 13, 2026 — The American Cancer Society (ACS) today released Cancer Statistics, 2026, the organization’s annual report on cancer facts and trends. The new findings show, for...
pressroom.cancer.org
January 26, 2026 at 5:34 PM
FutureHouse has announced the 2026 AI-for-Science Independent Postdoctoral Fellowship (deadline 13 Feb 2026). Applicants need a co-advisor. I am happy to consider candidates: email [email protected] with CV + 2-page proposal. All info at www.futurehouse.org/fellowship
Fellowship
FutureHouse is a philanthropically-funded moonshot focused on building an AI Scientist. Our 10-year mission is to build semi-autonomous AIs for scientific research, to accelerate the pace of discovery...
www.futurehouse.org
December 16, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Looking forward to speaking at this AI for Drug Discovery conference www.smgconferences.com/pharmaceutic...
AI in drug Discovery
SAE is proud to present the 7th Annual AI in Drug Discovery Conference on 9th-10th March 2026
www.smgconferences.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Brandolini’s Bullshit Asymmetry Principle: “The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it.” And this is often what it means to be a referee nowadays...
October 22, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Happy to share our latest research on predicting temozolomide response in low-grade glioma patients using large-scale machine learning.

We explored 12 machine learning classification algorithms across six types of omics data.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Predicting temozolomide response in low-grade glioma patients with large-scale machine learning - BMC Methods
Background Temozolomide is the primary chemotherapeutic agent and first-line treatment for low-grade glioma. Although low-grade gliomas are generally less aggressive than high-grade gliomas, they can eventually progress into high-grade gliomas, making it crucial to maximise the efficacy of initial treatment. Methods We analysed data from 109 patients with low-grade gliomas in The Cancer Genome Atlas to evaluate the predictive performance of 12 machine learning classification algorithms for temozolomide response, using six types of omics data. Cross-validation and bootstrapping bias correction were applied to compare these models with a conventional biomarker-based model using promoter methylation status of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase. The Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC) was used as the primary evaluation metric. Results The microRNA-based model using the Extreme Gradient Boosting algorithm achieved the best performance (MCC = 0.447), outperforming both the automated machine learning method JADBio (MCC = 0.250) and the biomarker-based model (MCC = 0.331). Incorporating clinical variables, such as patient age and Karnofsky score, further improved predictive power, with the logistic regression model with optimal model complexity achieving the highest MCC (0.483). Feature importance analysis on the best model revealed six predictive microRNAs, including three tumour-related factors (miR-335, let-7f, and miR-7-2) and three potential biomarkers (miR-204, miR-6513, and miR-376). Discussion This study systematically demonstrates the potential of large-scale analyses combining machine learning and omics data to predict temozolomide response, offering superior predictive accuracy compared with standard biomarkers. However, validation in independent clinical datasets remains necessary before clinical translation.
link.springer.com
September 30, 2025 at 9:22 AM
🚀 Just published in Pattern Recognition:

We present LDMO-CCP, a conformal prediction model using molecular clustering for better uncertainty quantification across chemical spaces.

🔹 Identifies Proscilladin as broad-spectrum cell-active inhibitor

👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.pa...
September 26, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Really enjoyed my visit and talk last week at UC Berkeley (bidmap.berkeley.edu/seminars/ped...).

Many thanks to BidMap for the warm hospitality!
September 25, 2025 at 10:38 AM