In the global race to tame the spread of COVID-19, scientific researchers and pharmaceutical companies first must understand the virus's protein structure.
Doing so requires building detailed 3D models of protein molecules, which until recently has been an intensely time-consuming task. Structura Biotechnology's groundbreaking software is helping speed things along.
The GPU-powered machine learning algorithms underlying Structura's software power the image processing stage of a technology called cryo-electron microscopy, or cryo-EM, a revolutionary breakthrough in biochemistry that was the subject of the 2017 Nobel Prize in chemistry.
Cryo-EM enables powerful electron microscopes to capture detailed images of biomolecules in their near-native states. These images can then be used to reconstruct a 3D model of the biomolecules.
With cryo-EM providing valuable 2D image data, Structura's AI-infused software, called cryoSPARC, can quickly analyze the resulting microscopy data to solve the 3D atomic structures of the embedded protein molecules. That, in turn, allows researchers to more rapidly gauge how effective drugs will be in binding to those molecules, significantly speeding up the process of drug discovery.
Hundreds of labs around the world already use the three-year-old Toronto-based company's software, with a significant, but not surprising, surge during 2020. In fact, CEO Ali Punjani states that Structura's software has been used by scientists to visualize COVID-19 proteins in multiple publications.
Our software helps scientists to understand what their proteins look like and how their proposed therapeutics may bind, Punjani said. The more they can see about the structure of the target, the easier it becomes to design or identify a molecule that locks onto that structure and stops it.
An Intriguing Test Case The idea for Structura came from a conversation Punjani overheard, during his undergraduate work at the University of Toronto, about trying to solve protein structures using microscopic images. He thought the topic would make an intriguing test case for his developing interest in machine learning research.
Punjani formed his team in 2017, and Structura started building its software, backed by large-scale inference and computer vision algorithms that help to recover a 3D model from 2D image data. The key, he said, is to collect and analyze - with increasing accuracy - a sufficient amount of microscopic data to enable high-quality 3D reconstructions.
It's a highly scientific domain with zero tolerance for error, Punjani said. Getting it wrong can be a huge waste of time and money.
Structura's software is deployed on premises, typically on customers' hardware, which must be up to the task of processing real-time 3D microscope data. Punjani said labs often run this work on NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 GPUs, or something similar, while many larger pharmaceutical companies have invested in clusters of NVIDIA V100 Tensor Core GPUs accompanied by a variety of NVIDIA graphics cards.
Structura does all of its model training and software development on machines running multi-GPU nodes of V100 GPUs. Punjani said his team writes all of its GPU kernels from scratch because of the particular and exotic nature of the problem. The code that runs on Structura's GPUs is written in CUDA, while cuDNN is used for some high-end computing tasks.
Right Software at the Right Time Given the value of Structura's innovations, and the importance of cryo-EM, Punjani isn't holding back on his ambitions for the company, which recently joined NVIDIA Inception, an accelerator program designed to nurture startups revolutionizing industries with advancements in AI and data sciences.
Punjani says that any research related to living things can now make use of the information from 3D protein structures that cryo-EM offers and, as a result, there's a lot of industry attention focused on the kind of work Structura's software enables.
What we're building right now is a fundamental building block for cryo-EM to better enable structure-based drug discovery, he said. Cryo-EM is set to become ubiquitous throughout all biological research.
Stay up to date with the latest healthcare news from NVIDIA.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Deepens Partnership with Taiwan's 62nd Golden Hors...
25/11/2025
Tracy Bonareri Onchoke, an investigative journalist from Kenya is the winner of the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award 2025.
The 26-year-old-sele...
25/11/2025
SVG All-Stars: Blayke Scheer, Senior Director, Creative Content, YES NetworkThe Indiana alum has turned storytelling into an artform for more than two decadesBy...
25/11/2025
Op-Ed: With FCC's C-Band Auction on the Horizon, Broadcasters Need Proven, C...
25/11/2025
Analysis: Is Baller League really the future of sport? By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, November 25, 2025 - 10:10
Print This Story
With KSI on...
25/11/2025
Platinum Whitepaper: The Growth of Broadcast in the World of Major Large Scale E...
25/11/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: SVG Women's Sports WorkshopBy Samantha Gabay
Tuesday, November 25, 2025 - 10:27 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlig...
25/11/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: CacheFly's Matt Levine on the Evolving Role of th...
25/11/2025
Peacock's EA SPORTS Madden NFL Cast Levels Up on Thanksgiving With SkyCam as...
25/11/2025
Mathias Broe attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Sauna at Library Center Theatre. (Photo by Michael Hurcomb/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Fes...
25/11/2025
The best playlists, podcasts, and audiobooks bring a little extra magic to your daily routine. With new features and offerings, Spotify Premium delivers even mo...
25/11/2025
Comprehensive new research confirms what we already knew: Australian music fans love the quality, quantity, and access they have to new and local music on strea...
25/11/2025
Applicable Products
Objectives The purpose of this application note is to give a brief background on 5G (NR) wireless communication an explain the reason a SN...
25/11/2025
Nielsen will now measure both Lionsgate's FAST channel MovieSphere and Movie...
25/11/2025
FREMONT, Calif. Blackmagic Design said the Associated Press has completed the transition of its global video-editing platform to DaVinci Resolve Studio....
25/11/2025
Berklees Inaugural Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole Scholarship Awarded to Paris P...
25/11/2025
NEW YORK NFL and college football coverage, the MLB postseason and the new fall broadcast-TV season contributed to major gains for traditional media companies a...
25/11/2025
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. Tower Products, a manufacturer and distributor of pro video and audio equipment here, said President and CEO Jim Veltrie will retire from the c...
25/11/2025
Following last week's disclosure that it had acquired a 8.2% stake in E.W. Scripps, Sinclair has filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission pr...
25/11/2025
25 Nov 2025
VEON's QazCode and MeetKai Sign Agreement to Power National LLM...
25/11/2025
UKTV has acquired a high-profile slate of US dramas from Paramount Global Conten...
25/11/2025
A symphony of genius, rivalry and vengeance, boldly reimagined from Peter Shaffe...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Cinematography World
Read the article
FilmLight has finalised the prestigious 2025 FilmLight Colour Awards jury and welcomed award-winning...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Prensario
Read the article
La serie fue dirigida por Juli n de Tavira, Rodrigo Santos, y David Leche Ruiz, con direcci n de fotograf a a...
In the global race to tame the spread of COVID-19, scientific researchers and pharmaceutical companies first must understand the virus's protein structure.
