Oxbridge Techbio startup aims to reinvent AI drug discovery
Symbiotic.blue combines Oxford and Cambridge scientific brainpower with bioentrepreneurial leadership with the aim to reinvent AI drug discovery. The company plans to create smarter, multi-targeted therapeutics to tackle complex diseases by combining the power of generative AI with brain-inspired methodologies.
At the scientific core of Symbiotic.blue are three leading academics – Dr. Simon Stringer, Professor Ana Domingos and Professor Gonçalo Bernardes. Three bio entrepreneurs complete the founding team line up – Dr. Kam Pooni, Nigel Brooksby (former Chair & MD of Sanofi) and Rakesh Roshan.
Dr.Stringer (Chief AI Officer) is an Oxford theoretical neuroscientist and pioneer in brain-inspired computational models. His breakthroughs in brain-inspired AI offered a new path – one where machines could model biological nuance, not just process data.
Professor Ana Domingos (Advisor) is an Oxford-based expert in obesity and metabolic biology, while Co-founder & Chair of the Advisory Board (Drug Development) Professor Gonçalo Bernardes is a University of Cambridge chemical biologist and global leader in targeted drug design.
CEO, Dr. Kam Pooni, joined to translate cutting-edge science into a scalable company, while industry veterans Nigel Brooksby and Rakesh Roshan brought the strategic firepower to make it real.
Dr. Pooni said: “We’re combining the agility of pharmaceutical leadership with the intellectual firepower of top-tier academic minds in AI and drug discovery. We’re not just accelerating discovery; we’re rethinking its foundations from the ground up.”
Symbiotic.blue’s platform will integrate two novel technologies: Hierarchical Feature Binding (HFB), in which Dr Stringer has been a key innovator is inspired by how the human brain processes complex information, enabling AI to model biology in a more contextual, layered way. This will be combined with Unimolecular Polypharmacy (UniMP), a technology designed to generate molecules that can simultaneously act on multiple biological targets, increasing potential efficacy and reducing development risk, in which Professor Ana Domingos and Professor Bernardes are experts.
Dr. Stringer added: “We’re enhancing Generative AI to build the next generation of drug discovery platforms. By mimicking how the brain binds features hierarchically and combining that with Ana’s expertise in metabolic biology and Gonçalo’s deep understanding of chemical drug design we aim to build a system that can better model biological complexity and help identify multi-target molecules with real therapeutic potential.”
Symbiotic.blue Co-Founder and Chair, Nigel Brooksby, said: “AI and life sciences are priority areas for investment by the UK Government, aimed to turbocharge growth in the economy.
“By combining the UK’s world-leading strengths in both AI and life sciences, with private capital and Governmental support initiatives, Symbiotic.blue aims to develop a transformative AI-driven drug discovery platform to increase the speed and efficiency and reduce the cost of discovering new therapeutics to address major health challenges.
“Our goal is to build an AI platform that is purposefully different by design, that mimics biology to fast-track the path to novel therapeutics.”
The company is welcoming collaboration from pharmaceutical partners, academic researchers and early-stage investors. To engage email info@symbiotic.blue.