Golem and Allchemy collaborate in unprecedented project to determine the origins of life

The goal of the project is to find molecular components central to the origins of life based on analyzing prebiotics, or compounds that the human body can’t digest, Invezz learned from this post. Scientific organizations can incorporate Golem, a decentralized marketplace for computing power consisting of a network of nodes that implement the Golem network protocol, into research pipelines.

Allchemy and its milestones

Allchemy, a privately held, US-based company, develops hybrid, knowledge- and AI-based algorithms to discover new bioactive molecules in an environmentally friendly way. It was co-founded by Prof. Bartosz Grzybowski, who invented the Chematica retrosynthetic platform. This was the first software in history, whose synthetic plans became lab-validated. Complex natural products’ computer-generated syntheses were recently described in a landmark paper. The company unveiled the complex engine for the in silico chemical evolution of small substrates into larger, functional molecules.

Program set to find traces of emergence of life

If it fails to find the origins of life themselves, the program will at least aim to identify their plausible traces. Project participants will use Golem’s computing power to simulate prebiotic syntheses on an unprecedented scale, taking billions of reactions and molecules into account. Prebiotics are consumed by probiotics, which have a variety of digestive benefits for humans. By identifying these connections, the algorithm will be looking at synthetic pathways that potentially made metabolism and self-replication possible.

Previously, research has never been done on this scale, nor has it had the support of the cutting-edge, computerized synthesis engine deployed on Golem. The project team is currently reaching the tenth generation of analysis. They have processed a pool of primordial molecules of almost a billion in number.

Piotr Janiuk, Golem Factory founder and CEO, said:

Golem Factory awarded a grant to pay computation costs and remit them in GLM, the platform’s token. It also co-created and implemented the algorithm.