PacBio (NASDAQ: PACB) and closely held TychoBio have announced a collaboration to generate full-length RNA data that TychoBio will use to train models for RNA therapy design.
Under the terms of the agreement, TychoBio plans to use PacBio HiFi sequencing and Kinnex long-read RNA sequencing to generate data from more than 10,000 samples, building large-scale datasets linking the design of steric blocking antisense oligonucleotides to their effects across the transcriptome, with plans to expand the approach to siRNA and other RNA-targeting compounds.
In a statement, Felix Raimundo, founder and CEO of TychoBio, commented, “AI models are only as good as the data they are trained on. To effectively identify new rare disease treatments, we needed the highest quality biological data, which can only be generated using PacBio HiFi sequencing technology. HiFi long read sequencing lets us see across full-length transcripts, including changes in isoforms and splicing of how the transcriptome is affected in rare diseases and which treatments could modify disease processes.”
Mark Van Oene, president and CEO of PacBio, remarked, “Our work with TychoBio, like our collaboration with Basecamp Research, highlights the critical value that high-quality sequencing data plays in generating the foundational data that will power biological modeling in the AI ecosystem. We believe that this critical work will enable the development of transformative therapies that ultimately improve the lives of patients with rare diseases and their families.”
