The Power of AI in Biotechnology: Revolutionizing Innovation
Artificial intelligence in biotechnology can speed up drug discovery, deliver analytics, accurately diagnose medical conditions, edit gene structures, develop personalized medicine, and do much more to help mankind. Here, we’ll discuss the role and importance of AI in biotech industries. The role of AI in biotechnology is gaining momentum in recent times. The biotech industry is redefining its processes using AL and ML technology to get better, faster, and more accurate results. Be it the pharma industry, healthcare, animal husbandry, or agriculture, AI and biotech are setting the stage for greater advancements and innovations. Biotech or biotechnology is the use of technology in biology. Pharmaceutical companies are the major players in this industry, though others are catching up quickly. Statistics show that the pharma industry will spend around $3 billion on AI in drug discovery by 2025. 82% of industry experts opine that the industry will continue with the digitalization of its operations during post Covid-19 pandemic. The power of big data and data analytics can revolutionize the biotech industry on various fronts. From using machine learning algorithms to natural language processing (NLP), neural networks, and advanced robotics, AI pushes the boundaries and creates more possibilities to improve the quality of life. New biotech companies are entering the global market, using artificial intelligence as an integral part of their business. Reports show that the biotech industry received $2.4 billion in venture funding by December 2022. Many rely on AI Biotech companies and solution providers to integrate the systems with advanced technology and use AI in all verticals. In this blog, we’ll read about the role of AI in biotechnology and how applied AI is helping biotech companies to drive innovation and be ready for future developments. Can AI and Biotech Save Lives? Technically, yes, artificial intelligence and biotech can save lives. This is done by helping researchers create better quality drugs (with fewer or no side effects), correctly diagnose complex ailments in the healthcare industry, identify and change gene patterns to prevent life-altering diseases, etc. Most importantly, combining AI and biotech allows different players in the industry to share information and work together irrespective of geographical restrictions. They can create AI-based pharma (medical) tools and find solutions to save lives. How is Artificial Intelligence Transforming the Biotechnology Industry? The advancement in the biotech industry now relies on big data, AI, and ML technologies. Many experts and top-level executives of leading biotech and pharma companies have said that 2023 is when AI in biotechnology will bring revolution and value and also fit for the purpose it is being used for. AI’s role in biotechnology is not limited to automating repetitive tasks or structuring data flow. Artificial intelligence can help in research, day-to-day work, data analytics, drug manufacturing, and much more. It speeds up the entire process by assisting human researchers to process large datasets accurately in a short time. Diagnosing and Treating Mental Illness The growing cases of mental illness have been a cause of concern in the last few years. Mental illness affects around 13% of the world’s population. The Covid-19 pandemic has led to an alarming increase in depression and anxiety. People with depressive symptoms went from 193 million to 246 million (28% increase), while anxiety disorders showed a 25% increase (298 million to 374 million). Artificial intelligence can help doctors and scientists detect early signs of mental illness and use preventive medication or treatment to help patients feel better. Treating mental illness is hard because the symptoms exhibited by patients are varied and not universally applicable. However, advanced AI programs can observe the brain waves of patients to recommend the best antidepressant therapies for each patient. AI algorithms are being used to study and identify the behavioral loops in addicts to determine the chances of relapse so that physicians can take the necessary action. Furthermore, AI can help create personalized medicine that will be more effective in treating the patient. However, there is a lot more research to be done in this field to help people deal with mental illness and lead better lives. Creating 3D Protein Structures Proteins are one of the four most important macromolecules essential to building life. The scientific community has been using X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance to identify protein structures. They have added 187,000 identified structures to the database. However, the process is slow and laborious. Many more proteins are yet to be identified. A UK-based team of AI researchers created AlphaFold, a machine-learning platform that uses the existing database to predict protein structures and build 3D models. The tool takes only a small fraction of the time takes originally to complete the job, that too with greater accuracy. This can help biotech companies identify more proteins quickly and use the vital ones in developing effective drugs. Diseases like cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy can be treated with the help of this technology. Gene Coding Identification Machine learning in Biotech can be researchers build powerful models to study and understand human genomics. The next-gen technology used by biotech companies helps sequence a gene in less time and creates an alternative method to homology-based sequence analysis. CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) can electively modify and edit the DNA or genes of living organisms. This allows scientists to identify and destroy the DNS from bacteriophages that cause infections and diseases. The technology can also help create personalized medicine based on the genome of the patient. This can be a game-changer in treating hereditary diseases and identifying the probability of a patient inheriting a family disease or illness. Lab Assistants AI in biotech is also being used to simplify tedious tasks. Artificial intelligence programs are acting as lab assistants and managing backend work as well as complex tasks like data analytics. H2O.ai is a fast, accurate, and open-source big data analytics platform that allows people to use its statistical models to identify patterns in datasets. Even though the company caters to many industries, many other AI platforms cater exclusively to the biotech, health, and pharma industries. Another role of AI as a lab assistant is the use of robotic devices in research centers, healthcare
Read More