<제바협 AI New Drug Convergence Research Institute, Recruiting Trainees for AI New Drug Development Workforce Training>

The "AI Drug Development Convergence Talent Training Program," in which leading experts in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) drug development participate as mentors to provide practical guidance and consulting to trainees, has been launched for the second time this year following last year.

[Photo by Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association]

The Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association AI Drug Convergence Research Institute announced on the 1st that it has opened the "Challenge LAIDD, AI Drug Development Mentoring Project" and is recruiting trainees to participate in the project. LAIDD stands for "Lectures on AI-driven Drug Discovery," an AI drug development education platform operated by the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association. The LAIDD mentoring project, conducted as part of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Korea Health Industry Development Institute's AI-utilized drug development education and promotion initiative, aims to cultivate convergence talents who can be immediately deployed in the AI drug development field.

The LAIDD mentoring project targets ▲employees of pharmaceutical and bio companies currently using AI in drug development or considering job transitions ▲AI developers who want to learn AI drug development ▲university (graduate) students and job seekers related to AI drug development. Mentors and mentees carry out AI drug development projects using Python, PyTorch, R programming, Linux, etc., based on AI, biology, chemistry, pharmacy, and medicine.

Mentors select project topics with high industry demand and support mentoring in a team project format. The mentors by topic are ▲Discovery and validation of drug targets for complex diseases based on genetic epidemiology (Sangsoo Kim, Professor Emeritus at Soongsil University) ▲Generation of small molecule compounds and activity prediction for target proteins (Hojung Nam, Professor at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST)) ▲Protein-ligand binding free energy prediction model (Minseon Yeom, Director of Namu ICT Research Institute) ▲Deep learning-based large-scale virtual screening practice for inhibitor candidate substances (Jooyong Lee, Professor at Seoul National University) ▲Discovery of cancer treatment drug targets through multi-omics data integration analysis (Daehee Hwang, Professor at Seoul National University), among others.

Trainees will be selected through document screening, basic competency tests by project topic, and interviews, with 10 trainees per mentor, totaling 50. Selected trainees will undergo about four months of online and offline competency enhancement training from next month until November, followed by team projects under mentor guidance. The training is completely free of charge.

The Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association plans to select outstanding cases from this project and present the results at the "2024 AI Pharma Korea Conference" to be held on October 31. Additionally, trainees who complete the project will be issued job competency certificates and digital badges to support job transitions for employees and entry into the AI drug development field for job seekers.

Those wishing to participate in the LAIDD mentoring project can apply by the 12th through the AI drug development education platform LAIDD homepage or the association's website notice board.