ProQR Therapeutics has entered a collaboration with Ginkgo Bioworks to support data generation for its AI-enabled drug discovery efforts and has established an AI advisory board comprising industry and academic figures.

The collaboration will give ProQR access to Ginkgo Bioworks’ autonomous laboratory platform, Nebula, which the companies said is intended to increase the scale and speed of experimental data generation to support model development for its Axiomer™ RNA editing programme. Ginkgo has also made a strategic equity investment in ProQR as part of the agreement.

ProQR said the additional data throughput is intended to support its internal AI models used in the discovery and optimisation of editing oligonucleotides.

The company also announced the formation of an AI advisory board, including representatives from Owkin, NVIDIA, Hugging Face, Leiden University, HCVC, and Kimia Therapeutics. The board will provide input on the application of AI methods in ProQR’s discovery and development activities.

ProQR said it expects its first AI-discovered development candidate to enter the clinic in 2026, with a clinical trial application planned for mid-2026 and initial clinical data expected by the end of the year.

The company will host a virtual investor and analyst event on April 8 to provide further detail on its AI-enabled pipeline and programmes, including updates on its RNA editing platform and development plans for AX-0810.