Jackson Lab Works with Microsoft on AI-Based Precision Medicine

By Fred Donovan

October 31, 2019 - Maine-based Jackson Lab is working with Microsoft to use artificial intelligence for precision medicine to improve cancer treatments.

Researchers at the lab are leveraging AI to accelerate implementation of treatments that target patients’ specific genomic profiles, explained a Microsoft blog post.

“The potential for this new era of cancer treatment stems from advances in genome sequencing technology that enables researchers to more efficiently discover the specific genomic mutations that drive cancer, and an explosion of research on the development of new drugs that target those mutations,” the post related.

Dig Deeper

Siemens to Inject $133M into UM’s Precision Medicine Institute

The lab researchers are collaborating with computer scientists at Microsoft’s Project Hanover who are developing AI that allows machines to read complex medical and research documents and highlight the critical data they contain.

The lab has developed a searchable database called the Clinical Knowledgebase (CKB) in which subject matter experts store, sort, and interpret complex genomic data to improve patient results and exchange data about clinical trials and treatment options.

Researchers are using Microsoft’s machine reading technology to curate CKB, which stores structured information about genomic mutations that drive cancer, drugs that target cancer genes, and the response of patients to those drugs.

The goal is to find the most relevant data from the thousands of biomedical research papers published every day, related Susan Mockus, associate director of clinical genomics market development with Jackson Lab’s Genomic Medicine Institute.

“Because there is so much data and so many complexities, without embracing and incorporating artificial intelligence and machine learning to help in the interpretation of the data, progress will be slow,” she said.

Using AI, researchers can make significant progress by narrowing their focus to specific areas such as clinical oncology, explained Peter Lee, corporate vice president of Microsoft Healthcare.

“For something that really matters like cancer treatment where there are thousands of new research papers being published every day, we actually have a shot at having the machine read them all and help a board of cancer specialists answer questions about the latest research,” he said.

Latest News

Jackson Lab Works with Microsoft on AI-Based Precision Medicine

Maine-based Jackson Lab is working with Microsoft to use artificial intelligence for precision medicine to improve cancer treatments.

Next in Latest News