Hydrophobic pockets often hide a crucial player: water. In human cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2R), a recent study shows that placing predicted water molecules in the pocket reveals hydrogen-bond bridges and chemotypes that “dry” screens miss. From a 10M library, the team confirmed selective CB2R ligands with the negative logarithm of the inhibitory constant (pKi) up to 7,70. Water-aware docking isn’t new, but here it enabled targeting a difficult hydrophobic pocket and surfaced a novel scaffold. At Receptor.AI, we also customize pockets with water molecules when needed, but this step erodes the accuracy of classical docking. Our AI technology for protein–ligand docking, ArtiDock, closes this gap. Check the link in comments for a benchmark. #drugdiscovery #docking #biotech
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Our blog: https://www.receptor.ai/news-and-blogs/ai-vs-physics-outperformance-in-protein-ligand-docking Article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2025.117846