Microsoft is furthering its healthcare initiatives by partnering with two pioneering firms working in the fields of precision medicine and immune disorder research.
Genoox, based in California, will work with the company on advancing DNA sequencing while Eagle Genomics in Cambridge studies microbiomes. Both the US company and the UK-based firm will leverage Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to help analyse their data.
Genoox’s stated aim is to rapidly deliver disease diagnoses and actionable insights to scientists and clinicians. It seeks to encourage wider adoption of Next-Generation DNA Sequencing (NGS) so that medical care can be personalised for most patients. The company has its own Software as a Service platform, which can be used by organisations to create custom NGS-based applications targeted mainly at the treatment of inherited disorders and oncology, as well as improving patients’ reproductive health.
While Genoox already has some AI and machine learning capabilities built into its software, it is partnering with Microsoft to integrate the Redmond-based tech giant’s own Genomics platform. The partnership is intended to allow selected Microsoft Enterprise users to conduct secondary analysis of data. It should speed up the process for querying data and, consequentially, developing actionable treatments for patients.
The partnership is expected to benefit both parties, as well as medical patients. As Amir Trabelsi, CEO of Genoox, said in a statement to prnewswire.com,
“We believe that with mutual efforts, both organisations will increase Microsoft's ability to offer their customers clinical testing development capabilities, improve patient outcomes and reduce the time to market for clinical applications.”
Eagle Genomics also has its own platform for knowledge discovery with the title of e[automateddatascientist]. This program works with Azure to analyse data and aid decision making in scientific research, specifically into the impact of products such as pesticides and antibiotics on microbiomes.
Microbiomes are present in almost all organisms as the fungi, bacteria and viruses that help defend against diseases. These microbiomes have been found to become imbalanced and impaired with the increased use of anti-bacterial products over the past century, leading to a range of issues, including immune disorders and mental health problems.
By partnering with Microsoft, Eagle Genomics says its in-house platform will be able to be more easily scaled for enterprise customers. Major global companies including healthcare giant GSK and consumer goods superpower Unilever already use e[automateddatascientist] to research the impact of their products on microbiomes, so the collaboration may mean smaller firms in need of microbiome research can also benefit from faster data analysis.
Anthony Finbow, CEO of Eagle Genomics, said:
“Microsoft Genomics will help tackle the computing and scaling challenges, accelerating the adoption of the technologies and the launch of new products and therapies.”
Geralyn Miller from Microsoft Genomics commented that the partnership is in line with the company’s mission to empower medical research with its innovative cloud technology.
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