Microsoft transforms diagnosis with AI systems

Diagnosing patients just got a lot easier thanks to a Microsoft partnership with a biotech company that uses AI to check for multiple illnesses.

Taking the next step with technology in the healthcare sector, Microsoft has partnered with biotechnology company Adaptive to create a method for smarter blood tests using AI. The aim of using the technology is to check for hundreds of diseases at one given time, as a universal diagnostic tool.

The use of AI could drastically reduce the amount of time it takes for patients to be diagnosed, by having all types of cases catered for at one point, as well as putting patients through just one trawl of tests instead of multiple. In turn, the technology benefits doctors by saving them the job of carrying out multiple tests, when AI can do it in one swift move.

“We believe deeply in the potential for this partnership with Adaptive and have made a substantial financial investment in the company. We believe deeply in the potential for this partnership with Adaptive and have made a substantial financial investment in the company. With Microsoft’s help, adaptive biotechnologies will attempt to map the genetics of the human immune system or immunome,” Peter Lee, Corporate Vice President, AI and Research at Microsoft said.

Additionally, doctors hope that by checking for more than one disease at once will help with treatments by allowing doctors to look at correlations between different disease states and finding a better cure to target more than one illness.

The system will work by using AI to decode a patient’s immune system, come up with a diagnosis based on past trends and then treat disease with the best medication according to the system.

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Adaptive Biotechnologies said to start with the two companies will focus on identifying diseases that are normally diagnosed at a later stage, such as pancreatic and ovarian cancer, and the AI system will help to identify these conditions much more easily and quickly in the future.

“Some conditions, like cancer or autoimmune disorders, can be difficult to diagnose,” said Chad Robbins, co-founder and chief executive officer of Adaptive Biotechnologies. “But this universal map of the immune system will enable earlier and more accurate diagnosis of disease.”

The partnership between the two companies is set to be discussed in further detail at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday 10th January.