Evogene Taps Scientific Titans to Boost Its AI Discovery Engine

REHOVOT, Israel – February 09, 2026 – In a strategic move to bolster its technological prowess, computational chemistry company Evogene Ltd. has appointed two world-renowned scientists to its scientific advisory board. The addition of Prof. John J. Irwin of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and Prof. Dan T. Major of Bar-Ilan University (BIU) signals a significant effort to accelerate the development of ChemPass AI™, the company's proprietary artificial intelligence platform for discovering novel drugs and agricultural chemicals.

This move comes as the race to harness AI for molecular discovery intensifies across the life sciences. Evogene, a specialized player focusing on generative AI, aims to carve out a niche by designing new small molecules from the ground up. The appointments are seen as a critical step to inject world-class academic rigor and deep domain expertise into its core technology, potentially enhancing its competitive edge in a rapidly evolving market.

A Strategic Brain Gain

For Evogene, these appointments represent more than just an expansion of its advisory board; they are a strategic maneuver to validate its technology and accelerate its path to market. Operating in the high-stakes, capital-intensive biotech sector, the company faces persistent financial pressures common to many research-driven firms. By attracting luminaries like Irwin and Major, Evogene not only gains invaluable scientific guidance but also sends a powerful signal to potential partners and investors about the credibility and potential of its platform.

The goal is to leverage this enhanced intellectual firepower to speed up the discovery of new small molecules for both pharmaceuticals and agriculture. The company’s ChemPass AI™ engine is designed to generate novel molecular candidates that are optimized across multiple critical parameters simultaneously—from potency and toxicity to synthesizability. This 'multi-parameter optimization' is a core challenge in drug discovery, and the new advisors are uniquely positioned to help refine and advance this capability.

Dr. Gabi Tarcic, Evogene's Chief Development Officer, highlighted the significance of the move. "The appointment of Prof. Irwin and Prof. Major marks an important milestone in the development of ChemPass AI™," he stated. "Their expertise will help us further enhance the quality, predictability, and real-world relevance of our discovery engine, as we continue to translate computational innovation into tangible value for the drug and ag-chemical industries."

The Architects of a New Molecular Universe

The expertise that Prof. Irwin and Prof. Major bring is deeply rooted in the foundational science of modern computational chemistry. Their individual contributions have shaped the tools and methods used by thousands of researchers globally.

Prof. John J. Irwin is a towering figure in the world of virtual screening. He is the creator of several foundational, open-access resources, most notably the ZINC database, a free library of over 38 billion commercially available compounds for virtual screening. He also developed the DOCK program, one of the first and most widely used molecular docking software packages. His work, cited over 35,000 times, has been instrumental in democratizing the tools for data-driven drug discovery.

"Evogene is addressing core challenges in small-molecule discovery through a rigorous and data-driven computational approach," Prof. Irwin commented. "I am pleased to join the Scientific Advisory Board and support the continued advancement of ChemPass AI™, particularly in ligand discovery, virtual screening, and evidence-based decision-making."

Complementing Irwin’s expertise in large-scale screening is Prof. Dan T. Major, a leading expert in the intricate physics of molecular interactions. A pioneer in multiscale molecular modeling, his research integrates quantum mechanics (QM) and artificial intelligence to understand and predict chemical reactions. This deep level of simulation is crucial for accurately modeling how a potential drug will behave in a biological system, a key factor in improving the success rate of drug candidates.

"ChemPass AI™ represents a sophisticated integration of generative AI and advanced molecular modeling," Prof. Major added. "I look forward to contributing my experience in multiscale simulations to help guide the development of technologies that can deliver meaningful impact across pharmaceutical and agricultural discovery programs."

Supercharging Discovery in a Competitive Field

The appointments come at a time when the AI-driven drug discovery market is experiencing explosive growth, with competitors like BenevolentAI, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, and Insilico Medicine also leveraging powerful AI platforms and securing major partnerships. Evogene aims to differentiate itself with the sheer scale and ambition of its ChemPass AI™ engine.

Built in a strategic collaboration with Google Cloud, the platform's foundation model was trained on a chemical universe of approximately 38 billion molecular structures. This partnership gives Evogene access to the immense computational power required to train and run such complex generative models. The company claims this approach allows ChemPass AI™ to generate truly novel, patentable molecules that are optimized for success from the very beginning, potentially shortening discovery cycles and reducing the notoriously high failure rates in downstream development.

While competitors also use AI to analyze data and identify targets, Evogene's focus is on the generative aspect—creating something entirely new that is tailored to a specific biological or chemical need. The addition of Irwin and Major is expected to directly enhance this process, ensuring the AI's creativity is grounded in the hard-won principles of chemistry and pharmacology.

Navigating the Promise and Peril of AI in Science

While the potential of AI to revolutionize medicine and agriculture is immense, the path is fraught with challenges. The entire industry grapples with issues of data quality, algorithmic bias, and the 'black box' problem, where even a successful AI's reasoning can be opaque. Furthermore, regulatory agencies like the FDA are still developing frameworks for how to evaluate drugs and therapies discovered and designed by artificial intelligence.

By integrating top-tier academic leaders into its core technological strategy, Evogene is positioning itself to address these hurdles head-on. The scientific rigor and validation that Irwin and Major represent can help build trust and transparency into the ChemPass AI™ platform. Their guidance can ensure that the AI's outputs are not just computationally plausible but also chemically and biologically sound, a critical factor for translating digital discoveries into real-world products.

For Evogene, this fusion of elite human intellect and powerful artificial intelligence represents its most strategic bet yet on shaping the future of molecular innovation.