M2GEN, a bioinformatics company accelerating discoveries in oncology research via superior data and analytics, has just announced it is partnering with Microsoft to advance and scale its unique data-driven solutions for the discovery, research, and development of new oncology therapies. The collaboration brings together Microsoft’s healthcare-focused technologies and M2GEN’s scientific capabilities, which includes its industry-leading clinical-genomics database, enabling oncology researchers to unlock the future of cancer therapeutics.
Big data, advanced analytics, and machine learning/AI have the potential to power innovation in the life sciences, but this can only be realized with the help of high-quality data collection, healthcare expertise, and technological innovation. M2GEN meets this potential as the technological hub of the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network® (ORIEN), a growing alliance of 18 leading National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated cancer centers. Since 2014, M2GEN has collected a world-class dataset comprised of tumor and germline genomic data matched with longitudinal, lifetime-consented clinical data from over 300,000 patients. In that time, M2GEN has transformed this dataset into a vital tool that frictionlessly delivers complex oncology data and analytics solutions to researchers in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and academia, leading to breakthroughs in oncology science that can improve cancer patient care.
M2GEN will collaborate with Microsoft to quickly and meaningfully enhance this tool into a scaled platform that leverages Azure Synapse Analytics with Microsoft Azure Healthcare APIs to enable broad and deep clinical-genomic analysis capabilities and services. The platform will be built on the foundation of Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 and Azure Purview, the unified data governance solution. Microsoft’s engineers will work side-by-side with M2GEN’s top-tier technology team led by Chief Technology Officer Wilf Russell, who brings over 30 years of software industry building and leadership experience. Working alongside the M2GEN team will give Microsoft key insights to help inform product features and influence roadmap decisions that are key to M2GEN and the industry’s needs. Jim Gabriele, President and Chief Executive Officer of M2GEN, commented:
“The M2GEN team, with its diverse background in oncology research, bioinformatics, and technology, is dedicated to providing data-driven solutions for oncology drug discovery and development. Our collaboration with Microsoft will allow us to scale these efforts, as they are providing access to advanced tools to power every part of the data cycle. Microsoft’s commitment to life science and its superior technologies make them a partner of choice for M2GEN. Together, our two companies will accelerate the impact of data and analytics on personalized cancer care for patients.”
According to Tom McGuinness, Corporate Vice President for Global Healthcare & Life Sciences at Microsoft, M2GEN has taken the first step, assembling an extensive cancer dataset that has already fueled important breakthroughs in precision oncology. He concluded that they look forward to working with M2GEN to produce meaningful solutions for oncology researchers.
