---

🎯 Overview

DTA-GNN is an end-to-end toolkit for Drug-Target Affinity prediction that:

1. Curates clean, leakage-free datasets from ChEMBL
2. Converts molecules to 2D molecular graphs or Morgan fingerprints
3. Trains baseline models (Random Forest, SVR) and Graph Neural Networks (GIN, GCN, GAT, GraphSAGE, PNA, Transformer, TAG, ARMA, Cheb, SuperGAT)
4. Evaluates with proper scaffold-aware splitting

---

📦 Installation

pip

# from source (development)
pip install -e .

# With development tools (for contributors)
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# from PyPI (coming soon!)
pip install dta-gnn 

Docker

# Pull from GitHub Container Registry
docker pull ghcr.io/gozsari/dta-gnn:latest

# Run Web UI (Web API mode - no local database needed)
docker run --rm -p 7860:7860 ghcr.io/gozsari/dta-gnn:latest \
    dta_gnn ui --host 0.0.0.0

# Run Web UI with local ChEMBL database
docker run --rm -p 7860:7860 \
  -v $(pwd)/chembl_dbs:/home/dtagnn/app/chembl_dbs \
  -v $(pwd)/runs:/home/dtagnn/app/runs \
  ghcr.io/gozsari/dta-gnn:latest dta_gnn ui --host 0.0.0.0
# In the UI, use path: chembl_dbs/chembl_36.db

# Run CLI commands
docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/runs:/home/dtagnn/app/runs \
  ghcr.io/gozsari/dta-gnn:latest \
  dta_gnn setup --version 36 --dir ./chembl_dbs

# Or use Docker Compose
docker-compose up ui        # Web UI
docker-compose up jupyter   # Jupyter Lab

---

🚀 Quick Start

CLI

# Download ChEMBL database (optional, for faster data access)
dta_gnn setup --version 36 --dir ./chembl_dbs

# Launch the Web UI
dta_gnn ui

# Run the full end-to-end pipeline from a UniProt ID
dta_gnn train-gnn P00533 --architecture gin --wandb-project my_project --n-trials 20 --epochs 30

Python API

# One-call end-to-end pipeline: UniProt → dataset → HPO → trained GNN → test metrics
from dta_gnn.training import run_gnn_end_to_end, EndToEndConfig

result = run_gnn_end_to_end(EndToEndConfig(
    uniprot_ids="P00533",        # EGFR — any UniProt accession
    architecture="gin",
    wandb_project="my_project",
    n_trials=20,
    epochs=30,
))
print(result.test_metrics)   # {"rmse": ..., "r2": ..., "mae": ...}
print(result.timings)        # per-step wall-clock times

Or use the lower-level API to build datasets and train models step by step:

from dta_gnn.pipeline import Pipeline
from dta_gnn.models import train_random_forest_on_run, train_svr_on_run, train_gnn_on_run, GnnTrainConfig

# 1. Build dataset for your target of interest
pipeline = Pipeline(source_type="web")
dataset = pipeline.build_dta(
    target_ids=["CHEMBL1862"],  # Your kinase, GPCR, or other target
    split_method="scaffold",    # Proper leakage-free splitting
)

# 2. Train a baseline model (Random Forest or SVR)
rf_result = train_random_forest_on_run("runs/current", n_estimators=500)
print(f"RF Test RMSE: {rf_result.metrics['splits']['test']['rmse']:.3f}")

# Or train SVR
svr_result = train_svr_on_run("runs/current", C=10.0, epsilon=0.1, kernel="rbf")
print(f"SVR Test RMSE: {svr_result.metrics['splits']['test']['rmse']:.3f}")

# 3. Train a Graph Neural Network
config = GnnTrainConfig(
    architecture="gin",    # GIN, GCN, GAT, GraphSAGE, PNA, Transformer, TAG, ARMA, Cheb, SuperGAT
    hidden_dim=256,
    num_layers=5,
    epochs=100,
)
gnn_result = train_gnn_on_run("runs/current", config=config)
print(f"GNN Test RMSE: {gnn_result.metrics['splits']['test']['rmse']:.3f}")

---

🖥️ Web UI

DTA-GNN includes an interactive Gradio-based web interface for building datasets without writing code.

Launch the UI

# Using pip
dta_gnn ui

# Using Docker
docker run --rm -p 7860:7860 ghcr.io/gozsari/dta-gnn:latest \
    dta_gnn ui --host 0.0.0.0

# Using Docker Compose
docker-compose up ui

The UI will be available at http://localhost:7860 (or the specified host/port).

---

🔑 Key Features

🤖 Model Training

• Baseline models: Random Forest and SVR using Morgan fingerprints (ECFP4)
• 10 GNN architectures: GIN, GCN, GAT, GraphSAGE, PNA, Transformer, TAG, ARMA, Cheb, SuperGAT
• Configurable: Layers, pooling, residual connections, hyperparameters
• Embeddings: Extract learned molecular representations from GNNs

🔒 Leakage Prevention

• Scaffold-aware train/test splits
• Temporal splits for prospective prediction
• Automatic leakage auditing

📦 End-to-End Pipeline

• One-call end-to-end pipeline: UniProt ID → ChEMBL dataset → W&B HPO → trained GNN → test evaluation
• ChEMBL data fetching (Web API or SQLite)
• Standardized pChEMBL conversion
• Duplicate aggregation
• Dataset cards for reproducibility

🖥️ Multiple Interfaces

• CLI: Quick experiments from terminal
• Python API: Integration in pipelines
• Web UI: Interactive dataset building - No coding required

---

Supported GNN Architectures

DTA-GNN supports multiple Graph Neural Network (GNN) architectures out of the box, enabling flexibility across different graph structures, scales, and learning objectives.

Architecture	Description	Key Characteristics
GIN	Graph Isomorphism Network	Highly expressive; sum aggregation with learnable ε; MLP-based updates with strong theoretical discriminative power
GCN	Graph Convolutional Network	Symmetric normalized adjacency; efficient and stable spectral convolution; strong baseline for semi-supervised learning
GAT	Graph Attention Network	Learnable neighbor attention; multi-head attention for stability; supports edge features and residual connections
GraphSAGE	Sample and Aggregate	Inductive learning; neighborhood sampling for scalability; flexible aggregators (mean, max, LSTM)
PNA	Principal Neighbourhood Aggregation	Multiple aggregators and degree-aware scalers; adapts to varying node degree distributions; robust on heterogeneous graphs
Transformer	Graph Transformer with multi-head attention	Dot-product self-attention; optional edge features; gated skip connections for stable deep learning
TAG	Topology Adaptive Graph Convolution	Explicit K-hop message passing; adapts filters to local topology; polynomial-style convolution
ARMA	Auto-Regressive Moving Average	Recursive stacked filters with residual connections; stable deep propagation; efficient spectral approximation
Cheb	Chebyshev Spectral Graph Convolution	K-hop localized spectral filtering; Chebyshev polynomial approximation; avoids eigen-decomposition
SuperGAT	Supervised Graph Attention Network	Self-supervised attention via link prediction; combines structural and feature-based attention; robust attention learning

Configuration

from dta_gnn.models import GnnTrainConfig

config = GnnTrainConfig(
    architecture="gin",        # gin, gcn, gat, sage, pna, transformer, tag, arma, cheb, supergat
    embedding_dim=128,         # Atom embedding dimension
    hidden_dim=256,            # Hidden layer dimension
    num_layers=5,              # Number of message passing layers
    dropout=0.1,               # Dropout rate
    pooling="attention",       # add, mean, max, attention
    residual=True,             # Residual connections
    # Architecture-specific parameters (optional)
    gin_conv_mlp_layers=2,     # GIN: MLP depth in convolution
    gin_train_eps=False,       # GIN: Whether to learn epsilon
    gin_eps=0.0,               # GIN: Initial epsilon value
    gat_heads=4,               # GAT: Number of attention heads
    sage_aggr="mean",          # GraphSAGE: Aggregation (mean, max, lstm, pool)
    transformer_heads=4,       # Transformer: Number of attention heads
    tag_k=2,                   # TAG: K-hop message passing
    arma_num_stacks=1,         # ARMA: Number of stacks
    arma_num_layers=1,         # ARMA: Number of layers per stack
    cheb_k=2,                  # Cheb: K-hop spectral filtering
    supergat_heads=4,          # SuperGAT: Number of attention heads
    supergat_attention_type="MX",  # SuperGAT: Attention type (MX, SD)
    lr=1e-3,                   # Learning rate
    batch_size=64,
    epochs=100,
)

---

🔬 Molecular Graph Representation

DTA-GNN converts SMILES to rich 2D molecular graphs:

Molecule (SMILES) → Atoms (Nodes) + Bonds (Edges) → GNN → Prediction

Node Features (6D):

• Atomic number
• Total degree
• Formal charge
• Total H count
• Aromaticity
• Atomic mass

Edge Features (6D):

• Single/Double/Triple bond
• Aromaticity
• Conjugation
• Ring membership

from dta_gnn.features.molecule_graphs import smiles_to_graph_2d

# Convert any molecule to a graph
graph = smiles_to_graph_2d(
    molecule_chembl_id="aspirin",
    smiles="CC(=O)OC1=CC=CC=C1C(=O)O"
)
print(f"Atoms: {len(graph.atom_type)}, Bonds: {graph.edge_index.shape[1]//2}")

---

📊 Examples

Complete Workflow

from dta_gnn.pipeline import Pipeline
from dta_gnn.models import train_gnn_on_run, GnnTrainConfig
from dta_gnn.audits import audit_scaffold_leakage

# Step 1: Build dataset for kinase targets
pipeline = Pipeline(source_type="sqlite", sqlite_path="chembl_36.db")
df = pipeline.build_dta(
    target_ids=["CHEMBL1862", "CHEMBL2111", "CHEMBL3778"],
    split_method="scaffold",
)
print(f"Dataset: {len(df)} drug-target pairs")

# Step 2: Verify no data leakage
train = df[df["split"] == "train"]
test = df[df["split"] == "test"]
audit = audit_scaffold_leakage(train, test)
print(f"Scaffold leakage: {audit['leakage_ratio']:.1%}")  # Should be 0%

# Step 3: Train GNN model
config = GnnTrainConfig(
    architecture="gin",
    hidden_dim=256,
    num_layers=5,
    pooling="attention",
    epochs=100,
)
result = train_gnn_on_run("runs/current", config=config)

# Step 4: Evaluate
print(f"Train RMSE: {result.metrics['splits']['train']['rmse']:.3f}")
print(f"Val RMSE:   {result.metrics['splits']['val']['rmse']:.3f}")
print(f"Test RMSE:  {result.metrics['splits']['test']['rmse']:.3f}")

# Step 5: Extract molecular embeddings for downstream tasks
from dta_gnn.models import extract_gnn_embeddings_on_run
embeddings = extract_gnn_embeddings_on_run("runs/current")
print(f"Extracted {embeddings.n_molecules} embeddings of dim {embeddings.embedding_dim}")

---

👥 Who Is This For?

You Are...	You Want To...	DTA-GNN Gives You...
Drug Discovery Researcher	Predict affinity for your target	End-to-end pipeline with baseline models and GNNs
ML Researcher	Benchmark new GNN architectures	Leakage-free datasets + baselines (RF, SVR, 10 GNN architectures)
Computational Chemist	Screen compounds virtually	Trained models + embeddings

---

📖 Documentation

• Installation Guide
• Quick Start
• GNN Training Guide
• API Reference

---

🧪 Testing

pytest tests/ -v

---

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE

---

📚 Citation

@article{ozsari2026dta,
  title={DTA-GNN: a toolkit for constructing target-specific drug--target affinity datasets and training graph neural networks},
  author={Özsari, Gökhan and Rifaioğlu, Ahmet Süreyya and Acar, Aybar Can and Doğan, Tunca and Atalay, M Volkan},
  journal={SoftwareX},
  volume={34},
  pages={102671},
  year={2026},
  publisher={Elsevier}
}