A Collaborative, Open Science Path to AI in Drug Discovery
What actually separates real AI progress in drug discovery from the hype? In a new interview with CanadianSME AI Business Review, our own Anne Fortier, VP of Drug Discovery and Development at Conscience, tackles that question head-on. She talks about where AI is already making a measurable difference (clinical trial recruitment and hit-finding lead the […]
Canada’s National AI Strategy and the Case for Open Science
Conscience is pleased to see that Canada’s new National AI Strategy reflects something we have been arguing for a while now. Pillar 6 of the strategy commits Canada to leading a global, multi-stakeholder effort to invest in and sustain open-source AI development in the public interest, naming researchers, civil society, and global open-source organizations as […]
Without Better Benchmarks, AI Drug Discovery Risks Losing Its Way
In this recent opinion piece in Life Science Daily News, Conscience CEO Peng Fu and Communications Lead Estrid Jakobsen argue that AI drug discovery is advancing faster than our ability to evaluate it — and that without rigorous, shared benchmarking standards, the field risks mistaking hype for genuine progress. Drawing on examples from initiatives like […]
Guy Rouleau joins Conscience Board of Directors as Chair
Conscience is pleased to welcome Guy Rouleau to its Board of Directors, where he will serve as Chair. Dr. Rouleau is Director of the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital (The Neuro) and co-founder of the Tanenbaum Open Science Institute (TOSI), where he has helped establish one of the world’s leading examples of open science in practice within […]
Conscience publishes first Annual Report
Conscience has published its latest Annual Report, highlighting a year of progress in advancing open science drug discovery and building the foundations for long-term impact across the research and innovation ecosystem. In 2025, Conscience moved from concept to execution, funding the first projects through the Developing Medicines through Open Science (DMOS) program, expanding the CACHE […]
New program to fund AI and digital tools for drug discovery and development
We’re pleased to announce the launch of our new AI-driven Medicines (AIM) program. This program aims to drive transformative research that leverages computational or digital-based methods and tools to address critical, real-world challenges in the discovery and development of accessible and affordable medicines. This initiative focuses on supporting the development of innovative methodologies and tools […]
BEACON and Conscience featured in STAT News
For decades, they’ve set the record straight in biology. Next up: science’s reproducibility crisis By Brittany Trang This STAT News feature explores the launch of BEACON (the Benchmarking, Evaluation, and Assessment Consortium for Science), a new international effort to strengthen how scientific research is evaluated, benchmarked, and translated into reliable knowledge. Coordinated by Conscience, BEACON […]
What Rare Disease Research Teaches Us About the Future of Precision Medicine
In honor of Rare Disease Day, our VP of Drug Discovery, Anne Fortier, published an insightful piece in The Scientist. The piece highlights how strategies perfected by the rare disease research community could provide the blueprint for the future of precision medicine for all. As our understanding of molecular biology deepens, the concept of the […]
Introducing BEACON: The Benchmarking, Evaluation, and Assessment Consortium for Science
We’re pleased to announce the launch of BEACON, a new open benchmarking consortium established through a collaborative effort by its founding partners from five organizations with deep expertise and proven track records in benchmarking and critical assessment: CASP, DREAM, OpenADMET, Sage Bionetworks, and CACHE/Conscience. The consortium aims to increase the collective impact of critical assessment […]
DMOS-funded project featured in Canadian SME Magazine
This piece in CanadianSME Small Business Magazine features Peter Sampson of the Agora Open Science Trust, who leads a project using open science to drive the development of an affordable treatment for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a rare and devastating pediatric brain cancer. The project recently reached an important milestone for open science drug […]
Beyond the Competition: Insights from Returning CACHE Participants
Open science competitions, such as Conscience’s CACHE Challenges, provide multiple benefits for early-stage drug discovery and the companies and researchers that participate in them. While hit-finding is the ultimate goal, the impact of participating in a challenge goes far beyond the competition itself. The challenges offer an opportunity to share data across organizations, accelerate discovery, […]
Second call for applications for expanded DMOS program includes clinical research
We’re pleased to announce that applications are now open for the second round of our Developing Medicines through Open Science (DMOS) program and that the program has expanded to support clinical-stage projects alongside preclinical research. This expansion reflects our commitment to moving promising therapies closer to patients while continuing to apply open science principles that […]
