Press release
SynLaia Awarded Innovate UK Grant to Advance AI-Driven Mechanomics for Drug Discovery.
Cambridge, UK – 14th August 2025
SynLaia is proud to announce the award of its first public research grant through Innovate UK’s Biomedical Catalyst: AI in Health Feasibility Competition. The funded project, titled “Mechanomics: Scoping Potential for a New Data Modality in Disease Biomarker and Target Discovery”, marks a major milestone in validating mechanomics as a next-generation approach in biomedical research and precision drug development.
What is Mechanomics and Why Does it Matter?
Cells in our bodies constantly interact with their physical environment. These mechanical forces—how cells sense, generate, and respond to pressure, stiffness, and strain—are essential for tissue health and disease. Yet, current drug discovery approaches, particularly those based on single-cell genomics, often overlook this vital physical context.
SynLaia is developing physics-inspired, AI-driven technologies that bring this missing dimension into focus. By combining spatial omics data (such as transcriptomics and proteomics) with spatial mechanical profiling and in silico modelling of tissue mechanics, SynLaia’s platform generates MechanoMaps: detailed maps of tissue mechanical states linked to molecular profiles.
The Innovate UK grant will accelerate the development and application of SynLaia’s platform, starting with the creation of MechanoMaps in key cancers of urgent unmet clinical needs, including pancreatic and lung cancer tissues. These maps will allow researchers to identify mechanobiology-driven drug targets that cannot be found using conventional molecular profiling alone.
A key collaborator on the project is Dr Adrien Hallou, a Group Leader in Tissue Biology and Principal Investigator at the Kennedy Institute, University of Oxford. Dr Hallou has developed a proprietary computational pipeline that uses spatial transcriptomics data to infer cellular mechanical states within intact tissue (Hallou et al. 2025 Nature Methods 22, 737-750). His methods form a foundational part of the platform being advanced through this Innovate UK-funded project.
“Adrien's work has been instrumental in translating spatial omics into mechanobiological insight,” said Agata Nyga, Founder and CEO of SynLaia. “This collaboration allows us to accelerate the development of a mechanomics pipeline that bridges biology, physics, and AI. It is also key milestone for SynLaia, as Adrien joins the team as fractional CTO.”
Over the next 12 months, SynLaia and Dr Hallou will apply and refine the mechanomics pipeline on spatial transcriptomics datasets. The team will generate the first MechanoMaps in human cancer tissues, aiming to identify targets driving mechanical dysfunction in the tumour microenvironment.
“Our goal is to uncover what standard genomic approaches can’t see - the physical layer of disease biology,” said Agata. “This could open up entirely new avenues for drug development and patient stratification.”
About SynLaia
SynLaia is a UK-based biotech company developing a first-in-class mechanomics platform that combines tissue mechanics, spatial omics, and AI to drive drug discovery and personalised medicine. Focused on oncology, fibrosis, and chronic diseases, SynLaia is redefining how we understand and target disease at the tissue level.
About Adrien Hallou
Dr Adrien Hallou is a Group Leader in Tissue Biology and Principal Investigator at the Kennedy Institute, University of Oxford with expertise in computational biology, mechanobiology, and spatial transcriptomics. His research focuses on the role of mechanical and biochemical signalling in cell fate decisions and tissue dynamics in development, homeostasis and diseases.
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is the UK’s innovation agency. It works to create a better future by inspiring, involving and investing in businesses developing life-changing innovations. Its mission is to help companies to grow through their development and commercialisation of new products, processes and services, supported by an outstanding innovation ecosystem that is agile, inclusive and easy to navigate.
Media Contact:
Agata Nyga
Founder & CEO
contact@synlaia.com
www.synlaia.com
