The UK’s Advanced Research & Invention Agency (ARIA) has awarded a £500,000 grant to fund a collaboration between San Francisco-based Deep Origin and Oxford-based Arctoris with an ambitious goal: identify a novel drug target and a validated molecule for endometriosis by the end of the year – compressing a process that traditionally takes a decade into less than nine months.
The project, called “Silico Habilis,” is part of ARIA’s AI Scientist program, which is testing whether tightly coupling AI reasoning, simulation tools, and automated laboratories can accelerate therapeutic discovery for complex diseases with minimal human intervention.
The approach pairs Deep Origin’s “Deep Knowledge” AI platform, which indexes over 3 million scientific papers, with Arctoris’ fully autonomous robotic laboratory, Ulysses. The system creates a closed loop: AI generates hypotheses that are instantly tested by robots in a fully automated lab, removing the human bottleneck that typically slows drug discovery. Deep Origin’s AI platform has identified endometriosis as the highest unmet need in women’s health.
The focus on endometriosis is significant. Despite affecting approximately 190 million women worldwide – including an estimated 1.5 million in the UK and 6.5 million in the U.S. – the condition remains poorly understood, often misdiagnosed, and underserved therapeutically. Current treatments can lead to bone density loss and early menopause, and no new class of treatment has been developed in decades.
Deep Origin was co-founded by Michael Antonov, who previously co-founded Oculus (the virtual reality company acquired by Facebook for $2 billion), and turned his attention to longevity and drug discovery after his exit.
Interim data is expected within weeks, with final results potentially within six months.
