Evogene Enlists Irwin and Major to Strengthen ChemPass AI Molecule Discovery

Evogene enlists leaders to sharpen AI-driven molecule discovery

Strengthening ChemPass AI with academic heavyweights

Evogene Ltd. appoints Prof. John J. Irwin of UCSF and Prof. Dan T. Major of Bar‑Ilan University to its Scientific Advisory Board, moves the Rehovot, Israel–based computational chemistry company says will accelerate its ChemPass AI™ generative engine. The company frames the additions as a strategic step to bolster scientific leadership and ensure the platform’s accuracy, robustness and scalability as it advances across pharmaceutical and ag‑chemical discovery programs.

Evogene says the appointments are targeted at improving real-world applicability of its generative models. ChemPass AI is designed to generate novel, highly potent small‑molecule candidates optimized simultaneously across multiple parameters — potency, selectivity, ADMET and synthetic tractability — to shorten discovery cycles and raise the probability of downstream development success. The SAB members are expected to guide validation strategies, algorithm refinement and cross‑program deployment so the platform meets both drug development and agricultural performance requirements.

Irwin and Major bring complementary technical and community resources that Evogene expects to leverage. Prof. John Irwin, an adjunct professor at UCSF and creator of open‑access resources such as ZINC, DOCK, SEA and DUD‑E, contributes deep experience in ligand discovery and virtual screening and a track record of building widely used data libraries. Prof. Dan Major adds expertise in molecular design and computational methods from Bar‑Ilan University. Evogene says their input will help expand validated libraries, improve model training datasets and strengthen collaborations with academic and industrial partners worldwide.

Academic integration and open‑science leverage

Evogene emphasizes that integrating Irwin’s open‑science data resources with its proprietary platform will both enrich ChemPass AI’s training corpus and support reproducibility benchmarks. The company frames this as part of its “Real‑World Innovation” approach, which combines deep scientific understanding with practical R&D constraints in pharmaceutical and agricultural applications.

Broader platform ambitions

Evogene positions the SAB move as reinforcing technological leadership as it scales ChemPass AI across multiple discovery programs. The company says the appointments are expected to accelerate timelines, improve candidate quality and broaden the platform’s applicability across drug and ag‑chemical pipelines.