IPA’s Subsidiary BioStrand Secures Second VLAIO Research Grant

Diepe IPA (IMMUNOPRECISE ANTIBODIES LTD.) (the “Company” or “IPA”) (NASDAQ: IPA) (TSXV: IPA) is pleased to share that IPA’s subsidiary Biostrand, a Belgian end-to-end multi-omics analysis platform provider, has received a €460,000 round of grant funding from VLAIO (Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship), the research fund of the Flemish regional government in Belgium. Conditionally awarded in January this year, BioStrand recently satisfied the remaining criteria for the award, which follows an original grant from VLAIO of €235,000 in 2020. Commenting on the latest grant, Dr. Ingrid Brands, General Manager and co-founder of BioStrand, stated, “Thus far, our patented HYFT-based methodology has been applied predominantly to streamline analysis at the syntactic level and combines sequence information with natural language processing. Using the presence, occurrence, and distribution of HYFT patterns, the focus has been on analysis and integration of sequence-based ‘syntactical’ information. We are now extending the methodology to combine syntactical and structural information and to expand our services portfolio with HYFT-based structural and functional modelling functionalities. By linking HYFTs with the 3D structure (and function) of proteins and expanding platform capabilities for AI discovery, we will be able to support an even wider array of applications, including assay development, biomarker discovery, and computer-aided drug design.”

The strategic objective driving this HYFT-based synthesis of syntactical and structural information is to extend BioStrand’s technology to encompass the structure of proteins. A key advantage of this blended approach is the detection of protein sequences with similar structures (and function) but without high sequence similarity (distant homologs). A primary application for this approach will be in protein structure prediction, with a particular first focus on antibodies as well as G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). This will be extended to cover protein-protein interaction prediction (PPI) at a later stage.

BioStrand is also working on an AI Discovery platform that will leverage advanced AI techniques to facilitate integrated protein structure and function analysis. Combined with existing R&R and Variant Analyzer modules, natural language analysis capabilities and the HYFT-based unified syntactical plus structural methodology, BioStrand’s AI discovery platform will empower researchers to fully analyse their data and gain insights across the entire analysis pipeline, from raw sequencing data to biologically relevant aspects such as diagnostics and drug discovery.