Eagle Genomics and Earlham Institute collaborate to boost microbiome data for product discovery

30 Sep 2021 --- Microbiome technology company Eagle Genomics is partnering with Earlham Institute (EI), a bioscience research institution, to provide tools required to analyze, explore and exploit complex microbiome data.

The partnership will be applied across both academia and industry. It will facilitate access to resources while accelerating data-driven collaboration.

As Eagle Genomics’ foundational knowledge partner, EI brings knowledge in genomics and bioinformatics and develops and tests laboratory methods and computational biology pipelines to study microbial communities.

“Our partnership with the EI will enable a radical, global shift in microbiome science-led innovation. By harnessing nature – including its complex networks and associated multi-dimensional data – we can help tackle the world’s grand challenges while unlocking significant economic potential,” says Anthony Finbow, CEO of Eagle Genomics.

“This partnership is part of a big data revolution in terms of how multi-omics data will be accessed and analyzed – combining open science and commercial R&D to benefit each partner and society,” says Dr. Liliya Serazetdinova, head of business development and impact at the EI.The AI-augmented knowledge discovery platform, e[datascientist], empowers scientists to exploit multi-dimensional data.

Eagle Genomics gives insight into product claims and this brings safer and sustainable products to market faster and across the food, personal care, cosmetics and agritech industries.

Networking capabilities and R&D
The partnership will range from collaborative R&D to consultancy work and licensing, as well as deploying Eagle Genomics’ e[datascientist]’s hosting and networking capabilities. It will also provide strategic insight as part of a steering group on new pipelines, and for example, could include research into:

• Classification and genome reconstruction in complex environments.
• Biological signaling network resources for human and model organisms.
• Global patterns of antimicrobial resistance found in microbes.
• Investigating the persistence and evolution of human-associated microbes.

“At Eagle, we’re using network science and AI tools to unlock the potential for innovation from complex multi-dimensional microbiome data,” says Dr. Andrew Tingey, senior director, Global Licensing and IP Strategy at Eagle Genomics.

“Our new partnership with the EI will help support the global microbiome R&D community while shaping the future of metagenomics, linking world-leading bioinformatics pipelines, tools and datasets.”

Eagle Genomics’ platform
The AI-augmented knowledge discovery platform, e[datascientist], empowers scientists to exploit multi-dimensional data to help companies conduct science-led innovation for next-generation products.

The e[datascientist] platform applies network science to multi-dimensional life sciences data – including environmental and clinical metagenomes for multi-omics analysis. The platform accelerates research and development into understanding human-microbiome interactions to support innovation workflows, including the generation of product claims.The partnership enables access to datasets and innovation workflows.

“Eagle Genomics’ open platform is helping to drive the digital reinvention of life sciences R&D across numerous industries, from AgBio and food through to healthcare, personal care and beauty,” says Finbow.

“Eagle Genomics’ e[datascientist] platform allows our scientists to share their work more widely, establish new connections and use it as a testing ground – interrogating and integrating new datasets, as well as developing new tools and pipelines – to advance our research further and apply to the biotech industry,” adds Serazetdinova.

Eagle Genomics is currently in discussions with a range of other organizations to ensure that its platform continues to evolve as the burgeoning global life sciences knowledge discovery hub.

Tracking Eagle Genomics’ growth
In May, Eagle Genomics and Cargill entered into a partnership that enabled digital transformation within Cargill’s R&D focused on the microbiome and life sciences. Also, Eagle Genomics expanded its global reach further by implementing AI-driven microbiome research in India.

Edited by Nicole Kerr