Brightseed lands $200,000 from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for AI research tackling undernutrition

03 Nov 2021 --- Brightseed has received a US$200,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to use its artificial intelligence (AI) platform Forager to discover plant-based bioactives that can improve birth outcomes. Results from the project are expected in the first half of 2022.

“This is the first step in the path toward delivering clinically validated nutritional products. This project will accelerate the novel bioactive discovery in plants for global health, and the myriad of benefits it can have for enabling scalable solutions and future health policy,” Adam Cohen, senior manager of business development at Brightseed, tells NutritionInsight.

Forager is an AI-driven discovery platform generating the world’s largest digital map of the interaction of plant-based bioactives with human biological systems, highlighting more than 10,000 potential solutions for proactive and therapeutic health. 

It seeks to discover the molecular underpinnings of bioactives contained in existing balanced energy protein (BEP) products so the nutritional community can better understand all the compounds that could contribute to better maternal and child outcomes. 

“We’ll soon have an expansive outlook on what bioactives are creating these cascading effects, and how we can improve their functioning between mothers and newborns to result in positive health outcomes,” says Lee Chae, co-founder, chief technology officer and creator of Forager. 

Undernutrition is responsible for approximately 45% of deaths among children under five. Unfolding the project
According to Cohen, the approach to the project will be three-pronged. First, Forager’s elucidation capabilities will allow an in-depth insight into the bioactive makeup of nutritional products. 

“This will allow us to identify which ingredients and what bioactive compounds within the products are the most beneficial to human health, which can be used to optimize the products for maximum health benefits,” Cohen says.

Second, with Forager’s knowledge of tens of thousands of plants, it can look for additional sources that can improve the nutritional products. “With this knowledge, we can augment the nutritional products’ and maximize their health benefits for mothers and infants,” he adds. 

Thirdly, using Forager's comprehensive natural compounds database, Forager will seek to identify potent molecules that can mimic the benefits of a commonly used antibiotic azithromycin, without some of the negative side effects. Such wide use of antibiotics may contribute to the global health problem of antibiotic resistance, Brightseed notes, which Forager can help combat.. 

Tackling undernutrition
The funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is part of a global health intervention to reduce undernutrition, supporting the development of BEP food supplements for pregnant women in countries with high undernutrition burden.

Citing World Health Organization (WHO) figures, Brightseed notes that undernutrition is responsible for approximately 45% of deaths among children under five. 

“Malnutrition and over-reliance on antibiotics are health problems at a global scale. Although clinical studies confirm that the nutritional products improve birth outcomes, the biological basis for this impact is not well understood,” Cohen notes.

“By the end of this program, Forager will deliver us both expanded solutions for malnutrition as well as solutions to reduce the impact antibiotics can have on the delicate digestive system and microbiome of newborns. This will represent a significant leap forwards for infant and maternal health throughout the globe,” he states.Forager has the world’s largest natural compounds database.

Expanding AI research
In January, Brightseed identified plant molecules for clearing liver fat and promoting metabolic health, spotlighting the potential of Forager’s technology to uncover health-activating properties in plant compounds for future F&B and nutraceutical product development.

The company also struck a partnership with Pharmavite to use Forager for identifying undiscovered plant phytonutrients for their health potential. 

Brightseed’s new project targeting undernutrition comes as global governments and health advocates have committed over US$3 billion to address the unrelenting global hunger and nutrition crisis. 

DSM has flagged “hidden hunger” as a problem affecting millions of children across the globe, which consume enough calories to survive, the absence of a nutrient-rich, balanced diet leaves them lacking in essential vitamins and minerals.

By Andria Kades