By combining artificial intelligence with biodiversity-inspired science, ToxiCode seeks to establish a new model for ethical and sustainable bioprospecting. The project has the potential to accelerate drug discovery, generate high-value technologies, and strengthen collaboration between King’s and the University of Zagreb in digitally enabled pharmaceutical innovation.”
Professor Paul Long, Professor in Pharmacognosy, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science at King’s
20 February 2026
King's to collaborate in venom-based drug discovery project
King’s is part of a research collaboration that has secured €3 million in World Bank funding to develop a sustainable, AI-driven approach to drug discovery inspired by animal venoms.
The project, led by researchers at the University of Zagreb, will take place over three years and aims to unlock the therapeutic potential of venom-derived peptides. The project, known as ‘ToxiCode’, brings together expertise in bioinformatics, artificial intelligence and synthetic biology to design new drug candidates more efficiently and ethically.
Among the senior collaborators is Professor Paul Long, Professor in Pharmacognosy from the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science at King’s. Professor Long has worked with the University of Zagreb for more than 25 years, contributing to advances in protein evolution, bioinformatics and nature-inspired drug discovery.
Venom-derived peptides are increasingly recognised as promising treatments for conditions including cancer, neurological disorders and infectious diseases. However, traditional discovery approaches often rely on unsustainable venom extraction and time-consuming screening methods that explore only a small fraction of nature’s molecular diversity.
ToxiCode aims to tackle these challenges by building a digital platform to design and produce new bioactive peptides. The project uses a hybrid AI system that learns the patterns of peptide sequences and how their structure affects biological activity, allowing researchers to quickly create new peptides optimised for specific medical purposes.
Professor Antonio Starčević, ToxiCode Principal Investigator, Faculty of Food Technology & Biotechnology at the University of Zagreb, said: "Our successful collaboration with Professor Long spans over two decades, but ToxiCode elevates this partnership to a completely new level. We are integrating King’s world-class biological data into our own generative AI models, followed by chemical synthesis and rigorous biological validation here in Zagreb."
We are moving from simply describing nature’s molecular diversity to actively engineering it. This project transforms our shared history into a complete 'design-build-test' platform that doesn't just find new drugs—it designs them."
Professor Antonio Starčević, ToxiCode Principal Investigator, Faculty of Food Technology & Biotechnology at the University of Zagreb
As part of the collaboration, King’s will receive a €120,000 service contract including access to the Smart Trials Hub facility. Professor Long will also lead field expeditions in the Adriatic to collect venom samples and use advanced molecular techniques to map their full biological makeup.
The partners from the University of Zagreb will then feed this detailed data into the AI models, create the AI-designed peptides, and carry out all the necessary lab tests to check their activity and safety.
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Professor in Pharmacognosy