Featured - Benchside Breakthrough

AI Algorithm Enhances Autoimmune Disease Prediction and Treatment

Autoimmune diseases happen when the immune system mistakenly targets the body's own cells. To improve how we predict and treat these conditions, it's important to understand their genetic origins.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) can help by finding genetic variants associated with these diseases. However, GWAS often fall short in identifying the specific genes that influence disease risk.

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University are looking to improve the identification of genes linked to autoimmune diseases by developing a new method, EXPRESSO, which utilizes sc-eQTL summary statistics to better identify cell-type specific gene-trait associations.

Method

• EXPRESSO integrates 3D genomic information and epigenetics to find specific genes and their effects on different cell types, offering a more precise understanding than traditional methods.

• Uses a linear model to predict gene expression, incorporating essential and non-essential variants based on their overlap with specific epigenomic annotations.

• EXPRESSO was applied to multi-ancestry GWAS datasets for 14 autoimmune diseases, identifying novel gene-trait associations

Key Findings

• Increased Power: EXPRESSO outperformed existing methods, identifying 958 novel gene-trait associations, with 492 unique to cell-type level analysis.

• Increased Detection: EXPRESSO identified 26% more gene-trait associations compared to previous methods.

• Cell-Type Specific Insights: The method uncovered many gene-disease links specific to particular cell types, which bulk tissue analysis often misses.

• Potential Treatments: The study highlighted existing drugs, like metformin for type 1 diabetes and vitamin K for ulcerative colitis, that could be repurposed to treat autoimmune diseases.

Why it Matters

• Better Predictions: More accurate gene-disease associations can lead to earlier and more precise predictions of autoimmune disease risk.

• New Therapies: Identifying cell-type specific genes opens up possibilities for targeted treatments, potentially reducing side effects and improving patient outcomes.

• Future Research: These findings pave the way for further studies and clinical trials to validate and expand these discoveries, potentially changing the treatment landscape for autoimmune diseases.

For more details: Original Research

Brain Booster

Which of the following processes is directly associated with the light-independent reactions of photosynthesis?

1. Photolysis of water

2. Carbon fixation

3. Formation of NADPH

4. Absorption of light by chlorophyll

See below for the answer!

Seed to Success

💰 Funding Milestones for Companies

1. Tempus AI filed for a $100M IPO to expand its AI-driven precision medicine platform, enhancing diagnostics and patient care. [Link]

2. Videra Health secured $5.6 million in funding led by Peterson Ventures to enhance its AI-driven mental health assessment platform, which uses video analysis to improve screening and monitoring of mental health conditions. [Link]

3. Atropos Health raised $33M in a Series B round to scale its AI-driven real-world evidence platform. [Link]

New Partnerships

MEGA PARTNERSHIP

Sanofi, Formation Bio, and OpenAI have announced a major AI collaboration to transform drug discovery and development.

Why it Matters

• Accelerates Drug Discovery: AI integration aims to reduce the time required for drug discovery and development significantly.

• Cost Efficiency: The partnership could lower the financial barriers to developing new medications.

• Patient Impact: Faster development means patients can access innovative treatments sooner.

Key Benefit

• Enhanced Precision: AI's predictive models will improve the accuracy of drug candidate selection, reducing trial-and-error in development.

• Increased Efficiency: AI-driven processes streamline research, development, and testing phases, enhancing overall productivity.

• Custom Solutions: The collaboration will leverage proprietary data and AI to create tailored solutions for specific medical challenges.

Next Steps

• Integration: Sanofi will incorporate AI solutions into its R&D operations to drive large-scale biopharma advancements.

• Development: Focus on building a robust AI infrastructure within Sanofi to support ongoing and future drug development projects.

• Scaling: Aim to expand AI capabilities across all phases of drug development to ensure sustained innovation and efficiency.

Full Press Release

🤝 Other Collaborations Shaping the Future

1. Microsoft, the University of Washington, and Providence Health collaborated to develop an AI model for digital pathology, utilizing 1.3 billion pathology images to improve cancer diagnostics. [Link]

2. Degron Therapeutics entered a $1.2 billion AI-driven collaboration with Takeda to develop molecular glue degraders for oncology, neuroscience, and inflammation. [Link]

3. Beacon Health System partnered with Notable to use its AI platform, streamlining self-scheduling for diagnostics and reducing administrative burdens to improve patient experiences. [Link]

4. Brainomix unveiled studies at the ATS Conference showing its AI-based imaging biomarkers can predict disease progression in lung fibrosis patients, collaborating with Heidelberg University, Avalyn Pharma, and AstraZeneca. [Link]

5. Duoning and Bioelectronica partnered to commercialize the Hypercell system, integrating AI-driven high-throughput single-cell sorting technology to enhance antibody discovery and biopharmaceutical research capabilities. [Link]

6. Banner Health partnered with Qventus to implement AI automation in its operating rooms, boosting efficiency and surgical case volume. [Link]

Milestone Moments

⚡Key Achievements and Acquisitions

1. Lunit acquired Volpara Health Technologies, enhancing its AI cancer diagnostics and expanding its reach in the U.S. market to improve breast cancer detection and streamline screening processes. [Link]

2. Click Therapeutics acquired assets from Better Therapeutics, including the FDA-authorized digital therapeutic AspyreRx, to expand into obesity and cardiometabolic disease treatments. [Link]

3. Implicity launched SignalHF, an FDA-cleared AI algorithm for predicting heart failure hospitalizations within 30 days, enabling proactive interventions and improved patient outcomes. [Link]

4. Twin Health expanded its Whole Body Digital Twin AI to tackle obesity by offering personalized, sustainable weight loss solutions without relying on GLP-1 medications, reducing costs for employers and health plans​ [Link]

5. Epic released an open-source AI validation tool for healthcare systems to ensure the accuracy and fairness of AI models in electronic health records (EHRs) [Link]

6. John Snow Labs' latest Large Language Models (LLMs) achieved state-of-the-art performance in medical AI, outperforming GPT-4 and Med-PaLM2 in accuracy and efficiency. [Link]

7. Fresenius Medical Care presented 40 research abstracts at the 61st ERA Congress, showcasing AI and machine learning advancements in kidney care, including a 23% mortality reduction with high-volume hemodiafiltration. [Link]

Navigating Challenges

🚧 Notable Setbacks 

1. Exscientia is cutting about 25% of its workforce to save $40 million annually while maintaining its AI-generated drug pipeline and ensuring a cash runway extending into 2027. [Link]

2. Amid resource shortages and doctor strikes, South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare is investing $17 million in AI-powered clinical decision support systems to improve emergency department efficiency and patient care. [Link]

We Value Your Thoughts!

Trivia Answer: Carbon Fixation

Carbon fixation - The light-independent reactions of photosynthesis, also known as the Calvin cycle, occur in the stroma of the chloroplasts. During this cycle, carbon dioxide is fixed into organic molecules, which are then used to produce glucose. While this process doesn't require light, it does depend on the ATP and NADPH generated during the light-dependent reactions.

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