Genomics/Proteomics

In 2025, genetic validation is poised to emerge as a high-stakes litmus test in cardiovascular R&D, investors will continue to get better at funneling cash into proven science, and patients will continue their evolution to become more-active partners shaping their healthcare. To hear more about each of these trends, we considered feedback from three industry…

As we edge closer to 2025, advances in long-read sequencing technologies, increasing biobank participation, and a growing emphasis on pharmacogenomics are all set to transform how we diagnose, treat, and prevent diseases. Below, Neil Ward, VP of Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) EMEA, offers insights on what’s happening now—and what’s next—as genomics and precision medicine finally deliver on their promise…

After establishing her lab at Cornell in 2019 and achieving notable success with publications in top journals, Liz Kellogg, Ph.D., associate member in the department of Structural Biology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital received a unique opportunity. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital had embarked on a major expansion of its structural biology and genome…

The UK Biobank, with genetic data on half a million individuals, set a benchmark for scale in medical research. It contains whole genome sequencing data for all 500,000 participants, making it the world’s largest genetic project to date. A recent collaboration between the San Diego–headquartered clinico-genomics company Helix and the Salt Lake City–based biotech Recursion…

Athos Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech focused primarily on developing precision small molecule therapeutics for autoimmune diseases and chronic inflammatory diseases. Like a growing number of biotechs, Athos is giving machine learning a prominent role in its drug discovery approach. Its advanced AI/ML platform integrates patient samples and data from global hospital systems to identify…

Deep Genomics, a Toronto-based techbio company founded in 2014, recently opened a new office and lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, an expansion of its Toronto office, and several leadership hires. The company, which has more than 100 employees with a background in areas spanning AI, automation, molecular biology, clinical development and software engineering, aims to develop…

Endometriosis, a condition where endometrial tissue grows outside the uterus, has a strong genetic underpinning. A new study published in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics sheds light on this connection. Researchers from a team including Genzeva, LumaGene, RYLTI Biopharma, Brigham & Women’s Hospital of Harvard University and QIAGEN Digital Insights used a unique approach in…

Over the past decade, the use of deeper sources of real-world data across all stages of the drug development life cycle has become increasingly important to guide disease understanding, trial designs, clinical guidelines, regulatory submissions and post-market studies. The advent of these deeper sources was prompted by the HITECH Act, which had the effect of…

NVIDIA is putting the power of generative AI for drug discovery into the hands of more pharmaceutical and biotech companies with an expanded collection of AI models and flexible deployment options. More than 100 firms are already using the company’s biomolecular BioNeMo platform to accelerate the development of therapeutics. “For the first time in history,…

Tumor heterogeneity analysis is a challenging but critical step for the advancement of cancer therapy research. DNA mutation interrogation and gene expression pattern evaluation are crucial for predicting a tumor’s response or resistance to specific drug or hormone treatments. Liquid biopsy has emerged as a promising tool, offering a rapid, minimally invasive method for early…

The pharmaceutical industry is at a critical juncture: AI and other technological advances offer unprecedented potential, yet the cost of developing new drugs has ballooned for decades, surpassing $2 billion in recent years with the projected return on investment (ROI) falling to a mere 1.2% in 2022, according to Deloitte. Another dimension of the problem…

The bioinformatics startup Culmination Bio had received financial backing from Merck’s venture arm. Now, the Utah-based company is collaborating directly with the pharmaceutical giant on an autoimmune disease research project. According to Culmination Bio‘s CEO Dr. Lincoln Nadauld, the collaboration highlights the value of the startup’s ability to provide rapid access to high-quality longitudinal patient…

In late 2023, Eli Lilly, whose stock is now up close to 80% over the past year, inked a deal with the Emeryville, California–based Fauna Bio potentially worth $494 million that focuses on the discovery of novel drug targets for treating obesity. In 2020, Fauna entered into an obesity-focused collaboration with Novo Nordisk, Lilly’s primary…

In sync with the JP Morgan Health Care Conference, Recursion Pharmaceuticals has unveiled Phenom-Beta, a deep learning model designed to transform cell microscopy images into meaningful biological representations. “Phenom-Beta allows you to take images of human cells from a microscope or other sources and turn them into mathematical representations of biology,” said Chris Gibson, CEO…

Repurposing is a drug development strategy that has been widely applied in cancer. This strategy, sometimes called label expansion, involves obtaining FDA approval to market a drug for the treatment of new indications, alone or in combination with other drugs. Not only can this approach extend the window of patent protection for a commercialized drug,…

Technically, graphics processing and AI hardware powerhouse Nvidia is also a drug discovery company. It may not discover drugs in-house, but it has developed BioNeMo, a comprehensive generative AI platform for drug discovery and Clara, a collection of healthcare frameworks, applications, and tools, including for biopharma. Nvidia partners include Amgen, AstraZeneca, GSK and Insilico Medicine.…

Next generation therapies and vaccine research have recently dominated headlines and scientific discovery. This research and its ability to treat previously untreatable conditions has rightfully excited the scientific and medical communities worldwide. But the complexities involved require a nuanced approach to ensure the treatment is safe and effective. Integrating cell culture into cellular immunity testing…

A vision for data-driven drug development in oncology When Peter Carr, principal software architect of Lantern Pharma, stepped into his full-time role in September 2020, the company was on the cusp of a transformation. While AI had been a focus for a number of years, a fresh infusion of cash provided a possibility of expanding…

AI in drug discovery is a topic that gets an outsized amount of attention, observes Carl Hansen, CEO of AbCellera, a company specializing in antibody drug discovery. “It’s as if people are saying, ‘AI is here, it’s going to save us. Thank God, we’re finally gonna be able to create drugs,” he said. “To me,…

As the biotech industry matures, several North American cities are emerging biotech hubs, aiming to become the next epicenters of innovation and growth. While traditional hubs like Boston and San Francisco continue to dominate, a new wave of cities is making strides in biotech. For instance, Pittsburgh, an up-and-coming biotech hub, is tapping its biomanufacturing…

Founded in 2008, Ginkgo Bioworks’ stock jumped almost 25% on August 29, hitting $2.22, after unveiling a five-year partnership with Google Cloud. The partnership centers around the development of novel AI tools for biology and biosecurity. In particular, Ginkgo hopes to further its mission to make biology easier to engineer in the AI era. Opting…

According to the American Cancer Society, one in two men and one in three women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives. Patients seek treatment to shrink their tumors and ideally achieve remission; however, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. At its core, cancer is a genetic disease: Different types of cancer that affect…

The biotech industry is facing a reckoning in 2023. To date, roughly 100 biopharmas have cut workers this year, matching the total number of layoffs in the sector in 2022. Many biotech startups have been hit hard. The wave of job cuts comes on the heels of a biotech boom following the COVID-19 pandemic, when…

Therapy persistence is a vital factor in determining the success of CAR-Ts for blood cancers like leukemia. While CAR-Ts hold great promise for blood cancers such as leukemia, in some cases, the durability of the treatment falls short, leading to a potential relapse. A positive study from researchers at University College London, Great Ormond Street…

From tackling the COVID-19 pandemic to paving the way for future global health challenges, RNA vaccines have rapidly gained attention in recent years. Researchers are already working to extend their capabilities for next-gen medicines. For example, scientists are working to create multivalent RNA formulations that can fight multiple virus variants. They are also exploring AI…