[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6721\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EAI is like having a treasure map to find disease-preventing molecules \u2013 Dr Nora Khaldi\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are peptides and why are scientists interested in studying them?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Peptides are molecules that exist everywhere \u2013 every single species of animal and plant has peptides. In humans, the body uses these molecules to communicate internally. They are the building blocks of everything. But in some diseases, there may be too much or too little of a particular peptide. By modulating peptides you can help to prevent or cure a disease.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018There are around 60 peptides commercially available at present, including some very familiar products. Insulin is a peptide and is used to control diabetes, growth factors (which stimulate cell growth) are peptides and so is penicillin. Many of the everyday molecules produced in the pharmaceutical sector are either small molecules, peptides or proteins \u2013 proteins are just a larger version of peptides.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThere are billions of peptides \u2013 why are so few used to improve health? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Identifying and testing peptides is very expensive and time-consuming, making this field the preserve of larger pharmaceutical companies. Nuritas, the company I founded, is making it faster and cheaper to find peptides that have health benefits. We\u2019re democratising peptides.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow are you using AI to make this happen?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018AI has accelerated this whole process dramatically, allowing us to do in a few months what has previously taken years and millions of euros to achieve. The old approach was tedious \u2013 there are so many peptides that finding the one which solves a major health problem was a long shot.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u0026#039;We\u2019re democratising peptides.\u0026#039;\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Nora Khaldi, Founder, Nuritas\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018It was like knowing there\u2019s a treasure chest buried somewhere in the ocean but having no map. You\u2019d spend years and millions of euros and might still find nothing. Our technology is like having access to a map. We can analyse the molecules, figure out what they do in the body and determine how easy it is to unlock them from a food source.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018For me, as someone with a background in pure maths and computer science, I see this as a data problem more than a biological or chemical problem.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWith so many potentially valuable peptides, where does the search begin?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We are interested in two types of peptide: we make synthetic peptides for the pharma industry which may be used to cure disease. But we are also very interested in naturally occurring peptides that can be extracted from food and used for disease prevention. Grains and vegetables are an important focus \u2013 we want to look for peptides in foods that people have always eaten because these are unlikely to be toxic to us and are readily available. It\u2019s not like a rare plant or an exotic herb \u2013 these are everyday foods.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIf you can find peptides in certain foods, why not just advise people to eat more of that food?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018You don\u2019t get the same benefit. The peptides are often locked inside a complex food structure. We use computers to study how to get it out of the food.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy is disease prevention a priority?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018If you think about the whole health system, it\u2019s completely broken. We spend 97\u0026nbsp;% (of healthcare budgets) on curing diseases and just 3\u0026nbsp;% on prevention. That has to change. There are too many people living with chronic diseases. Our goal should be to stop people in a pre-disease state from converting into a disease state. There\u2019s no other way: our populations are growing and ageing so it will be impossible for governments to sustain our health systems. Prevention is the future.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYou\u2019ve received EU funding via the PeptiEUForce project to look into how peptides can be used for diabetes prevention. Can you tell us about your work?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Today, if you have pre-diabetes the choice is to radically change your diet \u2013 which most people cannot do \u2013 or develop diabetes. Imagine if we could create a cereal bar with our Nuritas glucose-regulating peptide within that pre-diabetics could consume every day. One cereal bar a day, containing Nuritas active peptides that regulate blood sugar to normal levels, would be a viable option for people and reduce long-term spending on managing diabetes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Diabetes is a huge area given the unmet need for prevention, but we are also looking at ways to control inflammatory diseases and (researching) other peptides that are linked to stress and cancer. Another exciting area is how we can use peptides to prevent muscle decline which is linked to reduced mobility in older people.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow long before we see these products on our shelves? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The plan is for the diabetes product to hit the market in 2021. Trials are not as long as for pharma because the focus is on efficacy. These are natural peptides \u2013 food extracts \u2013 rather than synthetic chemicals used in pharmaceuticals, so we do double-blind placebo trials to show they are effective and as these ingredients are from safer, natural sources, it thus reduces the time to market substantially.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca title=\u0022http:\/\/bit.ly\/newsalertsignup\u0022 href=\u0022http:\/\/bit.ly\/newsalertsignup\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg class src=\u0022https:\/\/horizon-magazine.eu\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/news-alert-final.jpg\u0022 alt width=\u0022983\u0022 height=\u0022222\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We are applying to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for permission to make a health benefit claim about our food product. Very rigorous scientific proof is needed \u2013 I think EFSA has granted eight health claims in 10 years \u2013 but we believe we will hit the mark. We would love for this peptide to be the first scientifically proven diabetes active prevention via a functional food.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIf you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022moreinfoblock\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch3\u003EPutting innovative ideas into practice\u003C\/h3\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESmall- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with radically new ideas who want to scale up their activities can apply for \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/programmes\/horizon2020\/en\/h2020-section\/sme-instrument\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Efunding \u003C\/a\u003Ethrough the Horizon 2020 programme. The EU has allocated EUR 1.6 billion to support SMEs between 2018 and 2020.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis money is available through the so-called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/easme\/en\/sme-instrument\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003ESME Instrument\u003C\/a\u003E, which is designed to help high-risk, high-potential SMEs turn innovative ideas into reality so that they can complete\u0026nbsp;on the global market while creating European jobs.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFunding\u0026nbsp;is available to\u0026nbsp;individual companies and entrepreneurs at three different stages: feasibility studies, moving from concept to market, and business acceleration.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-srscz-29z8fatcjpvwo5xzf1pfmjvbjdv1vvlocr-qu\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-SRSCz-29Z8fatCjPVwO5XZF1PfMjvBJdV1vVlocR_QU\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]