内容来源：https://www.geekwire.com/2025/scientist-as-a-service-seattle-startup-pauling-ai-aims-to-shrink-drug-discovery-timelines-by-months/

内容总结：

美国西雅图初创公司Pauling.AI正利用人工智能技术，自动化完成新药发现的关键早期步骤。公司创始人兼首席执行官哈维尔·托达布表示，该技术能将原本需要三至六个月的工作压缩至数周内完成。

托达布曾任职谷歌16年，长期担任医疗与生命科学领域技术总监。尽管缺乏生物化学专业背景，他擅长开发能执行复杂药物研发任务的技术工具。公司采用"科学家即服务"模式，为科研人员提供AI驱动的计算化学服务，包括候选药物设计及分子相互作用模拟，最终生成可供实验室验证的小分子化合物清单。

目前这家仅六名远程员工的公司已获得Flex Capital及天使投资人的预种子轮融资，客户包括多家知名学术机构。公司首席科学官萨维茨基是曾在梅奥诊所从事研究的计算生物学家。

在太平洋西北地区，AI生物技术领域正蓬勃发展，温哥华的Variational AI、西雅图的Potato与Synthesize Bio，以及横跨旧金山和西雅图的Xaira Therapeutics等企业均在该赛道深耕。

托达布展望，通过大幅降低药物研发成本与时间，未来有望实现每年获批新药数量从三四十种到三四百种的跨越，使针对罕见病的药物研发成为可能。"我们从事这项事业不仅追求经济回报，"托达布强调，"更将为人类健康带来深远影响。"

中文翻译：

一家名为Pauling.AI的西雅图初创公司正利用人工智能，将新药研发的早期环节自动化。创始人兼首席执行官哈维尔·托达布表示，这项技术能在数周内完成以往需要三到六个月的任务。

支持者认为，利用人工智能加速研发进程，最终可能推动新疗法数量呈指数级增长。"该领域许多人的梦想是，未来每年获批的新药能从三四十种增加到三四百种，"托达布说，"从而治愈各类疾病。"

托达布在谷歌任职16年后于2024年创立了这家公司，他此前担任谷歌医疗保健与生命科学计划的技术总监。尽管不具备生物学或化学专业背景，但托达布表示自己擅长构建能执行复杂任务的技术工具——例如新药研发所需的技术。

这家初创公司采用"科学家即服务"模式，让研究人员能将药物发现早期环节外包给人工智能平台。该平台通过计算化学工作，设计候选药物并模拟其在细胞内与分子、抑制剂的相互作用。

最终平台会生成一份精选的小分子化合物清单，科学家可将其转入实体实验室进行疗法测试。未来该公司希望生产更复杂的候选化合物，例如抗体。

为实现这些目标，Pauling正在构建能与现有大型语言模型及多源数据库交互的自动化工具。这家初创公司现有六名远程办公员工，其管理团队包括曾在乌克兰学术界工作并在梅奥诊所从事研究的计算生物学家奥莱克桑德尔·萨维茨基。

Pauling已获得Flex Capital和天使投资人未公开数额的种子前融资。托达布透露，公司目前服务客户不足十家，其中包括多家知名学术机构。

该公司正加入蓬勃发展的AI生物技术领域，与众多太平洋西北地区初创企业并肩同行：温哥华的Variational AI、西雅图的Potato和Synthesize Bio，以及总部在旧金山、实验室设于西雅图的Xaira Therapeutics。此外，加州非营利组织FutureHouse也活跃在这一领域。

托达布最终希望，通过缩短药物研发时间和降低成本，使攻克罕见病在经济上变得可行——这些疾病通常被大型药企忽视，而新技术能为被忽视的患者提供治疗方案。"在这个领域工作的美好之处在于，我们并非单纯追求经济回报，"托达布表示，"这更将为人类带来巨大福祉。"

英文来源：

A Seattle-area startup called Pauling.AI is harnessing artificial intelligence to automate the early steps that lead to the discovery of new drugs. The technology can complete tasks in a matter of weeks that previously required three to six months, said founder and CEO Javier Tordable.
Using AI to accelerate research timelines could ultimately spark an exponential increase in new treatments, proponents say.
“The dream of a lot of people in the field would be that, at some point, we’ll go from 30 or 40 new drugs approved every year to 300 or 400,” Tordable said, “and cure all sorts of diseases.”
Tordable launched his company in 2024 after a 16-year tenure at Google, most recently as the technical director of the company’s healthcare and life sciences initiatives. While he doesn’t have expertise in biology or chemistry, Tordable said he’s skilled at building tech tools that can perform complex tasks — such as those required to create new pharmaceuticals.
The startup operates on a “scientist-as-a-service” model, allowing researchers to outsource early steps in the drug discovery process to AI. The platform performs computational chemistry work, engineering drug candidates and modeling how they might interact with molecules and inhibitors within a cell.
The result is a curated list of small-molecule compounds that scientists can then move into a physical laboratory for testing as therapeutics. In the future, the startup would like to produce more complex compounds as drug candidates, such as antibodies.
To accomplish all of this, Pauling is building automation tools that engage with existing large language models and databases from numerous sources.
The startup has six employees who work remotely. Its leadership includes Chief Scientific Officer Oleksandr Savytskyi, a computational biologist who worked in academia in Ukraine and did research at the Mayo Clinic.
Pauling has secured an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding from Flex Capital and angel investors. It currently serves less than a dozen customers, including several high-profile academic institutions, Tordable said.
The company joins a burgeoning field of AI-biotech ventures, with numerous Pacific Northwest startups: Variational AI in Vancouver, B.C.; Seattle-based Potato and Synthesize Bio; and Xaira Therapeutics, which is based in San Francisco and has labs in Seattle. Additionally, FutureHouse is a California nonprofit in this sphere.
Ultimately, Tordable hopes that by shrinking the time and cost of drug development, it will become economically feasible to tackle rare diseases that are typically not served by big pharma, providing overlooked patients with treatments and cures.
“The nice thing of working in this field is that we’re not necessarily doing it just for economic returns,” Tordable said. “There’s also an enormous benefit to humanity.”