Illumina, Tempus AI Collaboration, CN Bio, Pharmaron Partnership, More
By Bio-IT World Team
May 1, 2025 | Illumina and Tempus AI collaborate to accelerate clinical adoption of next-generation sequencing tests through novel evidence generation; CN Bio announced the establishment of a strategic partnership with Pharmaron to develop new applications to address unmet needs in drug discovery and development; and more.
Illumina and Tempus AI announced a collaboration to accelerate clinical adoption of next-generation sequencing tests through novel evidence generation. The collaboration will combine leading Illumina AI technologies with Tempus's comprehensive multimodal data platform to train genomic algorithms and ultimately accelerate clinical adoption of molecular testing for patients. This partnership will leverage Tempus multimodal data to further improve Illumina's AI-driven molecular analysis technologies and generate new insights supporting the clinical value of sequencing, which will be used to build evidence packages needed to standardize use of comprehensive genomic profiling and other molecular testing across all major diseases. Press release.
Arc Institute continues its work to generate and share large-scale, high-quality datasets of cell state before and after chemical or genetic perturbations to enable “virtual cell” models and other innovations. Two months after launching the Arc Virtual Cell Atlas comprising over 300 million cells, the initiative is now benefiting from new partnerships with 10x Genomics and Ultima Genomics. Arc will leverage 10x’s Chromium Flex technology to generate perturbational data at unprecedented scale and quality. Arc will also be using Ultima’s UG 100 sequencing system and Solaris chemistry to scale up its next phase of data generation and Atlas expansion. Press release.
CN Bio announced the establishment of a strategic partnership with Pharmaron. Under the agreement, Pharmaron will validate CN Bio’s PhysioMimix technology across existing applications and collaborate on integrating OOC technologies into its R&D platform. The partnership will also explore the development of new applications to address unmet needs in drug discovery and development. Press release.
Cultivarium announced a three-year project to develop advanced tools for life scientists studying fungi and archaea. With $10 million in funding from Wellcome, Cultivarium aims to create a thriving ecosystem of biologists equipped with cutting-edge technologies to study and engineer these enigmatic organisms for human health, sustainability, and biotechnology applications. The program will focus on three core areas: developing improved cultivation methods, creating genetic engineering tools specifically designed for diverse fungi and archaea, and strengthening the global network of researchers by sharing knowledge and resources. Press release.
Immunai and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) announced a collaboration to build the world’s largest single-cell dataset derived from a single cohort of patients treated with standard-of-care immunotherapy. Immunai will perform single-cell RNA sequencing and multi-omic profiling of patient blood samples collected from PICI’s Resistance Drivers for Immuno-Oncology Patients Interrogated by Harmonized Molecular Datasets (RADIOHEAD) cohort, a prospective longitudinal study of 1,070 patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment regimens in a community setting. Press release.
Nucleai has launched its deep learning model that automates the normalization of high-plex imaging data. Nucleai offers tools that support spatial profiling of protein expression and immune cell interactions—including cell architecture and neighborhoods—to support the development of antibody-drug conjugates, bispecifics, and immunotherapies. Designed to rapidly analyze dozens of protein markers in a single image, the new model is almost 20 times faster than manual methods and automatically adjusts protein signal intensities within and across patients to compare expression levels with greater precision. Press release.
BioProcess360 Partners announced the formation of ChromaGenix, a new biotechnology company focused on advancing downstream purification technologies for emerging biotherapeutics. The company was formed through the transfer of intellectual property, core assets, and scientific personnel from LigaTrap Technologies. ChromaGenix intends to meet growing global demand for scalable, application-specific purification solutions in the production of gene therapies, mRNA vaccines, exosomes, and lipid nanoparticles. Its portfolio will be built on LigaTrap’s proven ligand discovery platform and expanded into new resin and membrane-based formats. ChromaGenix will also receive a planned $35 million investment to construct a GMP and R&D facility to support in-house development, manufacturing, and talent growth. Press release.
SandboxAQ announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to accelerate innovations across biopharma, chemicals, advanced materials, financial services, cybersecurity, navigation, and medical imaging. SandboxAQ is leveraging the NVIDIA DGX Cloud AI platform on Google Cloud to build a state-of-the-art Large Quantitative Model (LQM) platform, fueling AI-driven scientific discovery. This collaboration enables SandboxAQ to achieve the following: enhance modeling capabilities to support simultaneous optimization across multiple parameters, improving the discovery process of novel molecules, and more. Press release.
The Center for Open Science (COS) has unveiled the Replicability Project: Health Behavior (RPHB). This initiative is aimed at reinforcing the corpus of evidence and bolstering the integrity of scientific methodologies within health research disciplines. Over the next few years, the RPHB will focus on evaluating the replicability of a wide array of quantitative health studies that have been published in the past decade, specifically targeting the years 2015 through 2024. By initiating this systematic examination, it is anticipated that the findings will yield crucial insights into the reliability and validity of existing research. Press release.
Scale Bio announced its participation in the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's (CZI) Billion Cells Project at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub New York Affiliate Symposium. Scale Bio joins technology partners 10x Genomics and Ultima Genomics in this effort to generate an unprecedented one billion cell dataset to fuel rapid progress in cell biology through AI model development. The integration of Scale Bio's technology is anticipated to accelerate the generation of high-quality, diverse cellular data to fuel advances in biological understanding. Press release.
Cytiva developed two new protein A resins: the MabSelect SuRe 70 and the MabSelect PrismA X. MabSelect SuRe 70 has high dynamic binding capacity (DBC); it combines Cytiva’s industry-leading quality with affordability, addressing the needs of clinical stages. MabSelect PrismA X is designed for cost-efficiency and offers highest DBC of all MabSelect resins and excellent durability for robust mAb capture. The need for affordability is especially relevant in the purification stage for preclinical or clinical production, where 20 batches are run at most. Whereas in commercial production, speed and performance becomes crucial. Press release.
Revvity Signals Software has launched Signals One, a unified software platform evolved from the company's existing research portfolio. Signals One addresses the growing complexity of drug modalities research by delivering a complete solution that integrates advanced research capabilities and fosters collaboration in multidisciplinary workflows. It provides scientists with an all-in-one solution for managing data across the “Design-Make-Test-Decide” R&D lifecycle. The platform incorporates sophisticated data processing workflows that encompass a range of common analytical tasks, including in vitro curve fitting, in vivo data analysis, and group comparisons. Press release.
Thermo Fisher announced a Technology Alliance Agreement with the Chan Zuckerberg Institute for Advanced Biological Imaging (CZ Imaging Institute). This agreement aims to develop new technologies to enable researchers to better visualize human cells to significantly advance scientific research and discovery. The collaboration is intended to bring together scientists and cryo-EM experts across the two organizations to maximize the impact of this brand-new laser phase plate technology, which will enable the broader scientific community to collect more information from their cryo-EM efforts and lead to a deeper comprehension of biology and the advancement of cutting-edge biological research. Press release.