EXODEC: A Rational Design Framework for BBB Ligand Evaluation and De Novo Peptide Engineering
CWSF · 2026 Disease & Illness Platinum Award
Overview
Over 98% of potential therapeutics for neurological diseases fail because they cannot cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Current screening methods for novel ligands often focus too heavily on binding affinity, which can lead to the "Transferrin Paradox," where stronger binding reduces downstream release into the brain. To address this, I developed EXODEC, a computational framework that evaluates ligands across five sequential stages: adherence, binding, uptake, transcytosis, and release. EXODEC now goes beyond static scoring by integrating a BBB transcytosis atlas, a context-aware digital twin, safety screening, payload-aware modeling, cross-species design, autonomous ligand discovery, dynamic pharmacokinetic simulation, and a geometry-aware molecular docking layer. Using this platform, I identified why benchmark ligands fail, mapped residue-level design landscapes, and refined EXODEC-family peptides such as EXODEC_GEN_001 for strong predicted delivery performance. EXODEC provides a scalable platform to de-risk brain-targeted drug development and accelerate therapeutic design for diseases including glioblastoma.
Awards (6)
- Platinum Award
- Young Scientist Award
- Challenge Award
- Special Award
- Gold Medal
- Selected for CWSF 2026
Competition history
- CWSF 2026
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