Synsight

Synsight, founded in December 2013 by Cyril Bauvais and Guillaume Bollot, is a biotechnology firm focused on accelerating the discovery of new therapeutic molecules. Based at the Genopole biocluster in Evry, France, the company operates as a subsidiary of Iktos following its acquisition in July 2024. Synsight targets the preclinical development phase, serving biotech and pharmaceutical companies by rationalizing and expediting their drug discovery projects. The business model is centered on establishing R&D collaborations and licensing agreements with these industry partners.

The company's core offering is a proprietary platform that integrates artificial intelligence, molecular modeling, and high-content screening (HCS). This combination of computational and biological techniques is designed to identify and optimize novel drug candidates. A key technological asset is the MT Bench™ platform, developed under an exclusive license from INSERM. This technology is engineered to detect and screen for modulators of protein-protein interactions (PPI) and RNA-protein interactions (RPI), which are critical in diseases like cancer and neurodegenerative disorders but are notoriously difficult to target. The platform uses cellular imaging to generate thousands of cell photos and employs a patented biomarker to quantify the effects of molecules within the cells, thereby reducing development time and costs for its partners.

The acquisition by Iktos, a specialist in AI and robotics for drug design, was a significant milestone. This merger integrated Synsight's automated biological testing capabilities into Iktos's existing platform, which includes generative AI for molecular design and AI-driven automated synthesis. This created a more comprehensive, end-to-end drug discovery engine by internalizing the biological testing of newly synthesized compounds, a step that was previously outsourced. The joint entity aims to make significant advances in developing treatments for challenging diseases by combining their respective expertise in AI, cellular screening, and robotics. Synsight maintains a joint laboratory with Université Evry Paris Saclay to further its research.

Keywords: drug discovery, preclinical development, artificial intelligence, molecular modeling, high-content screening, therapeutic molecules, biotech, pharmaceutical, protein-protein interactions, RNA-protein interactions, cell imaging, computational chemistry, chemoinformatics, drug design, licensing agreements, R&D collaboration, Genopole, Iktos, MT Bench, in cellulo screening, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer therapeutics, structural biology, bioinformatics