NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative announced this week that it has agreed to acquire artificial intelligence developer Meta, which has developed an AI that helps scientists read, understand, and prioritize millions of scientific papers. It analyzes publications to look for patterns in relevant or impactful studies. In a note on Facebook, Initiative President of Science Cori Bargmann and Chief Technology Officer Brian Pinkerton wrote that the tool can be used to "help identify emerging techniques for understanding coronary artery disease; a graduate student could see that two different diseases activate the same immune defense pathway; and clinicians could find scientists working on the most promising Zika treatments sooner. In the long run, it could be extended to other areas of knowledge: for example, it could help educators stay up to date on developmental science to better understand how children learn."
Cell Guidance Systems and Sharp Edge Labs said this week that they have signed an agreement to develop and market products for exosome research. The agreement gives Cell Guidance Systems access to Sharp Edge Lab's proprietary biosensor technology for use with its exosome detection platform. Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed.
GeneDx reported this week that it has completed exome sequencing for more than 50,000 individuals, representing over 15,000 separate cases. GeneDx said it conducts a variety of exome tests, including stat testing for critically ill patients where results are returned to clinicians within seven days, prenatal exome testing, and "exome slices" in which GeneDx geneticists work with to design best approaches to specific conditions.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on the GenomeWeb site.