Brightseed’s AI tech platform granted US$1.6 million to support undernourished pregnant and nursing women

21 Dec 2023 --- Biosciences and human health company Brightseed has received a second grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to build upon its Forager proof-of-concept artificial intelligence (AI) program aiming to address environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) in malnourished pregnant and lactating women to improve global birth and infant health outcomes.

“Forager is Brightseed’s proprietary AI platform that discovers bioactive compounds in nature and their impact on human health,” Sofia Elizondo, co-founder and chief operating officer of Brightseed, tells Nutrition Insight . “Gut barrier function is often compromised in individuals who suffer from EED. This is important because a healthy gut barrier is key for facilitating nutrient absorption, preventing infection and mediating immune responses.”

“Moreover, maternal undernourishment and an impaired gut barrier increase infant mortality by altering the fetus’s gut function and barrier permeability, ultimately affecting growth. By developing plant natural products to support a healthy gut barrier in pregnant and lactating mothers, Brightseed aims to counter this cycle and contribute to healthier maternal and infant populations.”

Forager analyzes raw plant material from the local regions impacted most by undernutrition to develop accessible and affordable solutions.Tackling EED
There is a limited scientific understanding of this condition caused partly by micronutrient deficiencies, undernutrition, certain gut infections and abnormal gut microbiota. It is usually asymptomatic, but it is associated with nutrient malabsorption, stunting and wasting in infant patients. This can result in long-term health and development issues. 

Brightseed’s Forager AI platform screens plant compound associations for efficacious and safe solutions that could improve the lives of undernourished mothers with EED. The grant will allow the company to screen seven million compounds and use preclinical and clinical models to validate those found to be promising.

“Forager works in three parts — it catalogs small molecule bioactives in the plant kingdom, predicts the health benefits provided by bioactives for the body and it knows which plants contain each bioactive compound,” Elizondo outlines. 

“For this program, Brightseed is looking at specific biological targets and the mechanisms of action that can impact the gut-intestinal barriers. We use custom in vitro models to predict and test plant-derived bioactives.”

“Our proprietary technology enables us to develop scalable, nature-based solutions that were never previously possible, and by analyzing plant raw material from the local regions impacted most by undernutrition, our aim is that these sources will be both accessible and affordable.”

Building upon Forager
The initial US$200,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation allowed Forager to discover natural compounds that mimic aspects of azithromycin — medication to treat bacterial infections — which supports maternal gut health. This promising initial success suggests that the AI platform can be used to develop novel plant-derived products further targeting gut health in the targeted cohort. 

Discussing how Brightseed plans to build upon Forager’s initial findings, Elizondo highlights: “The current program with the Foundation takes a more expansive approach to predict bioactives that impact gut health, specifically EED. Findings from our initial program helped guide our approach and predicted plant sources. The new funding enables us to take these predictions further in development, testing in vitro models with a view toward scale up.”

“We’re extremely honored to receive this grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue to work toward addressing such a crucial global health crisis,” she states.

By Milana Nikolova