Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42345827›Full record

ArticleBiology2026

Nevermore: Target-Conditioned Protein-Ligand Representation Learning for Multi-Objective Lead Optimization with Database-Grounded Retrieval.

Mohammad Saleh Refahi, Milad Toutounchian, Bahrad A Sokhansanj, Hyunwoo Yoo, James R Brown, Hai-Feng Ji, Gail L Rosen

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Mohammad Saleh RefahiDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.ORCID 0009-0000-9581-5883
Milad ToutounchianCollege of Computing & Informatics, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.ORCID 0009-0003-0689-5044
Bahrad A SokhansanjDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-5050-5926
Hyunwoo YooDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3862-4006
James R BrownDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9368-627X
Hai-Feng JiDepartment of Chemistry, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5450-0121
Gail L RosenDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1763-5750

Funding

U.S. National Science Foundation 1919691U.S. National Science Foundation 1936791U.S. National Science Foundation 2107108
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Recently, there has been great interest in AI-based approaches for de novo design of novel drug candidates. However, the generation of useful lead drug candidate compounds requires more than predicting engagement with the desired protein target. Candidate molecules must also be anchored in the real world of medicinal chemistry for their synthesis and modification as well as satisfying multiple drug development-related criteria. Here, we present Nevermore, an AI target-conditioned, database-grounded workflow for prioritizing candidate ligands from large compound libraries. Nevermore uses a geometry-aware protein-ligand affinity oracle to score target-specific binding and perform sparse integer edits in count-based Morgan fingerprint space. Nevermore then retrieves the most structurally similar molecules from public chemical databases. This design enables multi-objective search over predicted affinity and absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) proxies while keeping all candidates anchored to valid database compounds. We evaluated Nevermore's performance across three biologically distinct targets: Menin, a protein-interaction target relevant to leukemia; SARS-CoV-2 M

Indexed as

contrastive representation learningdatabase-grounded retrievalmulti-objective lead optimizationprotein–ligand affinity predictiontarget-conditioned molecular design

Identifiers

PMID42345827
PMCPMC13295582

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.