UCT gets $1.6M Google.org grant for AI drug research platform

The University of Cape Town has received $1.6 million (about R26.4 million) from Google.org to build AfriPGx-AI, an AI platform for medicine selection and dosing in African patients. The project will study over 50 drug-metabolising genes, starting with tuberculosis, HIV and malaria, and will release its models and datasets openly.

• Grant is part of Google.org Impact Challenge: AI for Science
• UCT is one of 17 organisations chosen from 3,000 applicants in 30 countries
• AfriPGx-AI will catalogue variation across 50+ drug-metabolising genes
• Initial focus: tuberculosis, HIV and malaria; software and models to be open