California - Saba:
A group of researchers funded by the Ark Institute have revealed a new AI model that integrates the genomes of different living species, with ambitions to contribute to the development of new treatments.
“Evo 2” includes more than 128,000 complete genomes in its database hosted by Amazon’s subsidiary Amazon Web Services, which specializes in cloud computing (remote computing), according to a statement.
The AI model was created in collaboration with the semiconductor giant Nvidia.
Nearly two thousand H100 chips, Nvidia’s main product, were used to develop the model.
This partnership with Evo 2 aims to make the model a tool capable of “accelerating knowledge of complex human diseases,” according to Silvana Konermann, director of the Ark Institute, which funds and coordinates research projects.
The model is supposed to “understand the genetic variants associated with a particular disease,” and then “create new molecules that target these regions with precision to treat the disease,” according to a statement from Nvidia.
The project involves researchers from Stanford, Berkeley and San Francisco universities in California.
Tests on a gene linked to breast cancer using Evo2 have identified benign or disease-causing mutations with 90 percent accuracy, according to the Arc Institute.
This new AI program has the potential to help develop new plant species that are more resistant to climate conditions and richer in nutrients.
It could also be used to develop enzymes that can break down plastic, for example.