IANS | 05 Jan, 2018
Technology giant Microsoft has partnered with Adaptive
Biotechnologies to map the genetics of the human immune system, to improve
diagnoses of cancers and other diseases.
Adaptive Biotechnologies is a genomics and technology company working to map
the genetics of the immune system.
As per the agreement, Microsoft will bring research and large-scale machine
learning and cloud computing capabilities to translate genetics of the human
immune system, or immunome into simple blood test that can be broadly
accessible to people around the world.
"We are very excited and inspired by our collaboration with Adaptive
Biotechnologies, as it clearly advances our mission to use cloud and AI
technologies to transform healthcare and improve the lives of people around the
world," Peter Lee, Corporate Vice President, AI and Research, Microsoft,
said in a statement late on Thursday.
"This collaboration combines powerful sequencing and artificial
intelligence (AI) technologies into a revolutionary new capability, and
represents the kind of deep collaborative partnership that we live for.
"We are incredibly proud to bring our best people and AI capabilities
together with Adaptive in this joint quest." Lee added.
"Artificial Intelligence represents one of technology's most important
priorities and healthcare is perhaps AI's most urgent application.
"Partnering with Adaptive Technologies to decode the human immune
system," Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft said in a tweet.
The immune system is nature's most finely-tuned diagnostic as it routinely
scans and reads any signal of disease - such as a cancer cell or an infectious
agent - in the body, and holds the genetic code that can give insights into
detecting these diseases.
"Some conditions like cancer or autoimmune disorders can be difficult to
diagnose, but this universal map of the immune system will enable earlier and
more accurate diagnosis of disease, potentially helping physicians to connect
the dots to understand the relationship between disease states and eventually
lead to a better understanding of overall human health." said Chad Robins,
President, CEO and Co-Founder of Adaptive Biotechnologies.
The collaboration is a part of Microsoft's Healthcare NExT initiative, launched
in 2017 to maximise the ability of AI and cloud computing to accelerate
innovation in the healthcare industry, advance science through technology, and
turn the lifesaving potential of next discoveries into reality.