AI & machine learning in Genomics

We have entered the age of genomics, and it will profoundly change our lives within the next few decades, far more so than the effects of personal computers and the digital revolution. Much of this change will come from the intersection of biology, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Veritas is leading this transformation having unified these aspects to deliver the first $1,000 human genome fully sequenced and interpreted. This was the first step to analyzing the genomes of millions of people around the world, including newborns. The next phase is the integration of our genetic information with the use of machine learning and AI to guide everyday decisions, everything from what we should eat to which health products we should buy, based on our biology. The presentation will explore how this information is already being integrated into the digital health ecosystem and will include a demo using AI (in this case, Amazon’s Alexa), to show how consumers will one day interact with their own genetic information. He will also address the need for more discussion around how we as an industry, and society, harvest this information and how it can benefit the greater good. With more than a zetabyte of genomic information expected to be generated over the next 10 years, who will own and be able to use this information? Veritas’ mission is to free all of this data and make it available to all researchers so we can move forward exponentially in our understanding of biology, disease and the ultimate goal of improving quality of life and human longevity for all, not for just the very few.

Mirza Cifric is Founder and CEO of Veritas Genetics, the first company to introduce whole genome sequencing and interpretation to consumers and their physicians for under $1,000. He leads Veritas with the mission of driving global accessibility to genomic information as the company builds the first, large-scale service capable of sequencing and interpreting hundreds of thousands, and eventually millions, of human genomes each year. The company operates globally from its offices in the U.S., Europe and China and has been recognized twice by MIT Technology Review as one of the 50 Smartest Companies in 2016 and 2017. Mirza is a serial entrepreneur in biotechnology. He previously served as CEO of AbVitro Inc. and ran Solmap Pharma, which was sold to FORMA Therapeutics. While at FORMA, an international oncology leader, he was Head of Corporate Development. In his spare time, Mirza enjoys helicopter-skiing, golfing and spending time on the North Shore of Massachusetts with his wife and four children.