Talus Bioscience released Ptarmigan-1, described as a structure-free AI model designed to predict small-molecule binding sites across the entire human proteome, including proteins that are difficult for traditional structure-based modeling. The company says the model is powered by its MARMOT assay, which captures snapshots of proteins in their native cellular context. Talus’ platform aims to expand drug discovery beyond “undruggable” targets that are unstructured or lack resolvable 3D structures, using proprietary experimental data collected over multiple years to train and validate predictions. For biotech R&D teams, this is a platform update with potential downstream effects on target expansion and early discovery hit quality, particularly in programs constrained by structural biology bottlenecks.