NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Adaptive Biotechnologies announced today that it has partnered with Microsoft to map the genetics of the human immune system, with the aim of detecting cancers and other disease in their earliest stages.
The partnership will combine Adaptive's immune sequencing technology with Microsoft's research and large-scale machine learning and cloud computing capabilities. The collaborators are planning to develop individual disease diagnostics at first, and then eventually develop a universal disease diagnostic from a single blood test.
Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft has also made an unspecified financial investment into Adaptive.
"This announcement comes at a time of inflection in healthcare and biotechnology. We now have the technology to be able to do what we've been talking about for the past decade — develop a universal [T-cell receptor] antigen map that presents an opportunity to help patients at an unprecedented scale," Adaptive President, CEO, and Cofounder Chad Robins said in a statement. "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 to connect the dots to understand the relationship between disease states."
Microsoft also noted that this collaboration is part of its Healthcare NExT initiative, which was launched last year to advance the use of artificial intelligence and cloud computing in healthcare.
Last November, Adaptive announced a collaboration with Amgen to measure minimal residual disease in patients with multiple myeloma in a clinical trial, using its immune sequencing technology.