Optimal message passing for molecular prediction is simple, attentive and spatial

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Castaneda-Leautaud, Alma C., Amaro, Rommie E.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Castaneda-Leautaud, Alma C.
Amaro, Rommie E.
author_facet Castaneda-Leautaud, Alma C.
Amaro, Rommie E.
contents Strategies to improve the predicting performance of Message-Passing Neural-Networks for molecular property predictions can be achieved by simplifying how the message is passed and by using descriptors that capture multiple aspects of molecular graphs. In this work, we designed model architectures that achieved state-of-the-art performance, surpassing more complex models such as those pre-trained on external databases. We assessed dataset diversity to complement our performance results, finding that structural diversity influences the need for additional components in our MPNNs and feature sets. In most datasets, our best architecture employs bidirectional message-passing with an attention mechanism, applied to a minimalist message formulation that excludes self-perception, highlighting that relatively simpler models, compared to classical MPNNs, yield higher class separability. In contrast, we found that convolution normalization factors do not benefit the predictive power in all the datasets tested. This was corroborated in both global and node-level outputs. Additionally, we analyzed the influence of both adding spatial features and working with 3D graphs, finding that 2D molecular graphs are sufficient when complemented with appropriately chosen 3D descriptors. This approach not only preserves predictive performance but also reduces computational cost by over 50%, making it particularly advantageous for high-throughput screening campaigns.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_10871
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Optimal message passing for molecular prediction is simple, attentive and spatial
Castaneda-Leautaud, Alma C.
Amaro, Rommie E.
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Biomolecules
Strategies to improve the predicting performance of Message-Passing Neural-Networks for molecular property predictions can be achieved by simplifying how the message is passed and by using descriptors that capture multiple aspects of molecular graphs. In this work, we designed model architectures that achieved state-of-the-art performance, surpassing more complex models such as those pre-trained on external databases. We assessed dataset diversity to complement our performance results, finding that structural diversity influences the need for additional components in our MPNNs and feature sets. In most datasets, our best architecture employs bidirectional message-passing with an attention mechanism, applied to a minimalist message formulation that excludes self-perception, highlighting that relatively simpler models, compared to classical MPNNs, yield higher class separability. In contrast, we found that convolution normalization factors do not benefit the predictive power in all the datasets tested. This was corroborated in both global and node-level outputs. Additionally, we analyzed the influence of both adding spatial features and working with 3D graphs, finding that 2D molecular graphs are sufficient when complemented with appropriately chosen 3D descriptors. This approach not only preserves predictive performance but also reduces computational cost by over 50%, making it particularly advantageous for high-throughput screening campaigns.
title Optimal message passing for molecular prediction is simple, attentive and spatial
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Biomolecules
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.10871