Immunai, AstraZeneca Expand Partnership, Rancho Biosciences Releases Multi-omics Datasets, Dotmatics AI Co-Scientist

Immunai announced an expansion of its collaboration with AstraZeneca, with Immunai eligible to receive up to $37.5 million over 2026-2027. Under the expanded agreement, AstraZeneca will continue to leverage Immunai’s AMICA-OS AI operating system, which integrates one of the largest clinical immunology databases at single-cell resolution with advanced foundation AI models of the immune system. The platform is designed to generate clinically relevant insights across oncology drug development, including biomarker discovery, patient stratification, mechanism of action analysis, and dose optimization. Press release. 

Rancho BioSciences launched OmicsHQ, a unified catalog of expertly curated, standardized multi-omics datasets designed for immediate use in research, drug discovery, and AI/ML model development. OmicsHQ provides researchers with a single, searchable catalog of single-cell transcriptomics data, including over 1,000 preprocessed datasets ready for immediate use, and more than 8,000 additional studies available for on-demand processing. Every dataset is prescreened for completeness, harmonized against standard ontologies (UBERON, DOID, EFO, MESH, NCIT), processed through a reproducible bioinformatics pipeline, and independently quality-reviewed. Rancho Biosciences won the Best of Show award for OmicsHQ at this month’s Bio-IT World Conference & Expo. Press release. 

Cytiva introduced the next generation of its Biacore 8 series SPR systems. The new systems bring together rapid screening and high-quality molecular characterization in a single system, reducing hands-on time through integrated plate handling, automated workflows, and extended unattended operation, without compromising data quality. Press release. 

DNAnexus announced Omics Data Agent for AI-assisted exploration and productivity; enhanced multiomic ingestion, representation, and cohorting; AutoML Assistant for rapid model development for serious science; and Omics Data Catalog, a foundation for AI-ready data. By bridging the gap between raw multimodal data and clinical discovery, DNAnexus enables health leaders to operationalize AI across critical workflows with full regulatory readiness. Press release. 

SandboxAQ announced the integration of its Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) with Claude, Anthropic's frontier AI model, making it possible to directly connect a large language model to a large quantitative model for drug discovery and materials science. Arman Zaribafiyan shared the news at last week’s Bio-IT World Conference & Expo. With Claude serving as a natural language interface to SandboxAQ's LQM platform, any user can access that same capability through plain-English prompts and potentially move faster from hypothesis to discovery. Press release. 

The Solubility Company and Persist AI announced a strategic collaboration to launch the first fully automated single particle analysis platform. The partnership aims to revolutionize preclinical development by combining high-precision, ultra-low-sample solubility measurement with automated wet-lab, and next generation predictive AI models for drug formulation. Press release. 

Andelyn Biosciences has received full certification under the Initiative for Certification of Manufacturing Capabilities (ICMC) program from Dark Horse Consulting. In the ICMC program, a CDMO's credibility is established through an extensive due diligence effort on manufacturing capabilities, defined by systems, competencies, and criteria aligned with industry and regulatory standards, including biological drug product inspection guidance and commercial GMP requirements. The certification received by Andelyn underscores their long-standing commitment to quality, operational readiness, and client service as the company supports innovators in advancing gene therapies from development through clinical and commercial manufacturing. Press release. 

Dotmatics announced Luma Agent, an AI co-scientist that plans and executes complex scientific work, including analyzing data, generating reports, managing workflows, and configuring the platform. Luma Agent is built on a foundation of structured, ontology-backed scientific data captured at the point of work, making every answer verifiable, every action traceable, and every result trustworthy enough to act on. Press release. 

Empire Genomics launched Neo in situ hybridization (NISH). NISH is designed to support automated RNA in situ hybridization in FFPE tissue for research workflows. NISH is built on HCR Pro RNA-ISH, a protease-free approach to RNA in situ hybridization in FFPE tissue. By avoiding protease digestion, the workflow is designed to support tissue morphology and protein target integrity. HCR HiFi Probes are engineered for background suppression and enable RNA-and-protein co-detection within the same tissue section for use in automated research workflows. Press release. 

EPIK Biosciences announced its formation as a psychedelic drug development company focused on building a portfolio of proprietary ketamine-based therapies. The company is developing synergistic combination medications and advanced co-delivery formulations targeting mental health disorders, severe/chronic pain, and substance use disorders. In particular, the portfolio of proprietary ketamine-based formulations are engineered around NMDA receptor modulation, with the goal of improving on the efficacy, durability, and accessibility limitations of currently available treatments. Press release. 

West Coast Informatics announced the general availability of AutomapAI. By transforming local codes, legacy standards, and unstructured text into high-fidelity, standards-aligned data, AutomapAI allows healthcare organizations to reduce integration costs and establish the semantic reliability required for advanced analytics and AI. AutomapAI has four critical capabilities: semantic normalization at scale, unstructured data unlock, streamlined legacy modernization, and advanced analytics and AI readiness. Press release. 

Lab Thread announced the worldwide commercial release of its Unified Lab Software Platform. By linking functional modules including molecular biology tools, electronic notebook records and laboratory information management functionality, Lab Thread creates a simple, secure digital thread, bringing together scientific teams, data, and entire laboratory workflows to accelerate biological research and advance scientific discovery. Press release. 

Evotec announced the nomination of a small molecule preclinical development candidate from its multi‑target drug discovery alliance in medical dermatology with Almirall S.A. The program is aimed at developing novel treatments for immune‑mediated inflammatory skin diseases with high unmet medical need. The program leverages Evotec’s fully integrated, AI/ML‑enhanced discovery and preclinical development platforms including medicinal chemistry, DMPK, in vitro biology and development expertise within a seamless, data‑driven workflow. Press release.

Kahimmune Therapeutics signed a scientific collaboration agreement with Gustave Roussy to support the selection and development of its first shared mRNA companion neoantigen therapy candidate, KAH‑001, targeting colorectal and pancreatic cancers. Under the agreement, Kahimmune will gain access to patients’ biological samples to generate preclinical data and select the antigens that will form KAH‑001 by mid‑2027. The company will then begin preclinical development and CMC activities to produce an mRNA‑LNP clinical candidate, with regulatory preclinical development planned by mid‑2029. Press release. 

Quanterix has been selected as a co-investigator institution in the PD-BUILD program, part of the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network (CRN) 2026 expansion, supported by The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF). This multi-year grant brings together leading institutions across academia and industry to develop and deploy high-quality biomarker tools aimed at enabling earlier detection, improved patient stratification, and more effective monitoring of Parkinson’s disease in clinical research. Quanterix was selected for the performance of the Simoa platform, which has the following features: detection at the limits of biology, reproducibility across sites and studies, and scalable development and distribution. Press release.