Synthace Ltd., a London based technology company developing Antha, a high level language and operating system for working with biology, today announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with Microsoft to use Azure cloud analytics, cognitive services, and machine learning.
Geoff Hughes, Business Development at Microsoft commented “We are excited about Antha’s ability to transform the productivity of working with biology, from genomics, to drug discovery, to bio manufacturing. We are delighted to be working with Synthace to deliver this disruptive technology through Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Machine Learning services via our BizSpark Plus program.”
“Supporting projects like Antha is part of Microsoft’s long term commitment to help people innovate and improve all of our lives through the power of technology,” said Raya Yunakova, Startup Programs Manager, Microsoft UK. “The BizSpark Plus program provides entrepreneurs with essential tools and technology, giving them the freedom they need to create and grow. We are humbled by the ambitious tasks that Synthace and others like them undertake and are excited that we can support them in their journey.”
“Biological experimentation is in crisis. Understanding complex systems is impossible if the underlying working practices are as highly variable and failure prone as they are today,” said Sean Ward, Founder and CTO of Synthace. “Powerful advances in AI and deep learning are of little use without sufficient and structured experimental data to train them on, which is why Antha is bioscience’s missing link.”
Antha is an open-source language that provides a clear and complete description of working practices, which can then be translated, using the AnthaOS operating system, into automated execution on hardware from many different vendors. It also ensures that structured data is produced from every experiment. The result for the user is enhanced traceability, reproducibility and simplicity.
Andrew Phillips, Head of Bio Computation at Microsoft Research commented “As we develop the next generation of biodesign software technologies it is critical to be able to translate them into the real world. Antha solves the current disconnect and major bottleneck between this digital to physical transition enabling us to build and apply advanced tools to understand and engineer biology.”
About Synthace
Synthace is transforming the engineering of biology, for all its applications across health, food, energy and manufacturing. Combining computation, biology and automation the company is able to rapidly develop robust, high yielding bioprocesses to make bio-based products. Central to Synthace’s technology is Antha, a platform that brings quality by design and design for manufacturing to biological research and development. Learn more atwww.synthace.com and www.antha.com.
