Cancer profiling
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in the world.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in the world. Currently, it is staged preoperatively by radiographic tests, and postoperatively by pathological evaluation of available surgical specimens. However, present staging methods do not accurately identify occult metastases, which have a direct affect on clinical management.
A team of scientists has performed an experiment to distinguish stages of colorectal cancer.1 Sera from 103 patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma were analysed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy.
The serum metabolomic profile was found to change substantially with metastasis, while the site of disease also appeared to affect the pattern of circulating metabolites. The team concluded that this novel observation could be of value in enhancing staging accuracy and selecting patients for treatment, but that additional study is ultimately required. Early identification of metastases isolated to the liver may mean surgery is an option, while more widely disseminated disease could be treated with palliative chemotherapy.
1. Oliver F. Bathe et al.,Genome Medicine4(42), doi: 10.1186gm341 (2012).
This story originally appeared in The Column. Click here to view that issue.
AI and GenAI Applications to Help Optimize Purification and Yield of Antibodies From Plasma
October 31st 2024Deriving antibodies from plasma products involves several steps, typically starting from the collection of plasma and ending with the purification of the desired antibodies. These are: plasma collection; plasma pooling; fractionation; antibody purification; concentration and formulation; quality control; and packaging and storage. This process results in a purified antibody product that can be used for therapeutic purposes, diagnostic tests, or research. Each step is critical to ensure the safety, efficacy, and quality of the final product. Applications of AI/GenAI in many of these steps can significantly help in the optimization of purification and yield of the desired antibodies. Some specific use-cases are: selecting and optimizing plasma units for optimized plasma pooling; GenAI solution for enterprise search on internal knowledge portal; analysing and optimizing production batch profitability, inventory, yields; monitoring production batch key performance indicators for outlier identification; monitoring production equipment to predict maintenance events; and reducing quality control laboratory testing turnaround time.
