OpenFold Consortium Welcomes Apheris and Johnson & Johnson to Enhance AI-Driven Drug Discovery with Privacy and Proprietary Data Collaboration

DAVIS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The OpenFold Consortium, a collaborative open science initiative dedicated to advancing AI tools for biological applications, has welcomed two new members: Apheris and Johnson & Johnson. This expansion strengthens the Consortium's mission to develop and share high-performing, open-source models that can accelerate drug discovery within the biomedical community. Since its inception, OpenFold has made significant strides by releasing AI models such as OpenFold, OpenFold-SoloSeq, and OpenFold-Multimer. These models are designed to predict the detailed structures of proteins, DNA, and small drug-like molecules. All of OpenFold's models and datasets are freely available under permissive licenses, promoting widespread use and innovation. Apheris, a company that specializes in secure collaborative AI training on proprietary and IP-sensitive data, adds a crucial layer of data security to the OpenFold mission. While OpenFold focuses on providing open models and training code, Apheris enables the customization and enhancement of these models using distributed data without compromising privacy. This allows OpenFold’s foundation models to be benchmarked using proprietary datasets from Consortium members while ensuring strict data protection standards are met. Apheris operates a separate but complementary consortium called the AI Structural Biology Consortium (AISB). The AISB aims to facilitate confidential collaboration across proprietary datasets, while OpenFold continues to build robust, open-source foundation models. Together, these initiatives form a larger, cohesive ecosystem. OpenFold supplies the public model infrastructure, and consortia like AISB extend its utility to private, high-value data environments. "Combining open models with proprietary data is essential for progress in life sciences AI," said Robin Röhm, CEO and Co-Founder of Apheris. "We are proud to support the OpenFold mission and help make collaborative training a reality." "The addition of Apheris and Johnson & Johnson to the OpenFold Consortium enhances our ability to transform drug discovery through collaborative AI initiatives," said Lucas Nivon, CEO of Cyrus Biotechnology. "With their support, OpenFold is well-positioned to accelerate the development of generalizable, secure, and clinically relevant AI tools." About OpenFold OpenFold is a non-profit AI research consortium comprising academic and industry partners. Its primary focus is on developing open-source software tools for biological research and drug discovery. Hosted by the Open Molecular Software Foundation, OpenFold encourages membership among biotechnology, pharmaceutical, synthetic biology, software/technology, and non-profit research organizations. For more information about OpenFold Consortium and its initiatives, visit: OpenFold Consortium. Media and Membership Inquiries Press and membership inquiries should be directed to Mallory Tollefson, Ph.D., at [email protected].