Data scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai created the model, dubbed “knowledge gap,” to assess the relationship between birth defects, genes and drugs, according to a July 17 press release from Mount Sinai.
Researchers used data produced from the NIH Common Fund programs and datasets from birth defect associations, ReproTox-KG and a semi-supervised learning, to assess approximately 30,000 preclinical small molecule drugs and their potential of crossing the placenta and inducing birth defects.
The analysis found “500 birth-defect/gene/drug cliques,” that could potentially explain molecular mechanisms that could cause drug-induced birth defects.
Researchers warned that the findings are preliminary and that additional research is needed to further validate this.
The full study was published July 17 in Communications Medicine.
