Founding members of the alliance include Accelrys Software, Affymetrix, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Applied Biosystems and The Scripps Research Institute, among more than a dozen industry leaders.
Life science companies have unique technical challenges such as the need for more comprehensive data integration solutions, better technical collaboration and stronger knowledge management capabilities. The BioIT Alliance brings together science and technology leaders to consider innovative ways to address these challenges and use technology to reduce costs, streamline research and market their products more effectively.
Founding members of the alliance have already begun to collaborate on solutions that target common technology problems faced by life science companies. The first of these solutions is the Collaborative Molecular Environment, which will provide a means for data capture, visualization, annotation and archiving using Microsoft Office, Windows Presentation Foundation and SharePoint Technologies. Microsoft is partnering with alliance member company InterKnowlogy on the project, which is being tested by several other alliance members.
In addition to making data easier to manage, early efforts of the alliance are focused on making data easier to share. Two member companies working on this are Affymetrix and Applied Biosystems.
The BioIT Alliance will also provide independent software vendors with industry knowledge that helps them commercialize informatics solutions more quickly with less risk.
The intersection of biology and computer science is an increasingly rich area for innovation, said Dr Rick LeFaivre, partner at OVP Venture Partners. As venture investors, we believe systems biology will fundamentally transform the practice of medicine from today’s reactive mode to predictive and preventive care.
The development of best practices and standards is vital to the development of this revolutionary technology, which will inevitably lead to dramatically improved personalized healthcare, he added.
