Back when Biopôle was founded in 2004, the global life sciences market looked very diff erent to how it looks today. Indeed, it was around two decades ago that we started to see and feel the impact of major developments – most notably a massive increase in information technology (IT) capacity, which has continued to grow to the present day. In turn, this has made possible a wide range of new and improved technologies in the life sciences. Here are just a few of the main highlights.

1. The start of a revolution in life sciences: High-throughput technologies

Following a first technology revolution in the 1970s, which led to major advances in molecular biology, the second revolution in life sciences was sparked by the groundbreaking Human Genome Project, which was completed in 2003, just before Biopôle was founded. This revolution in life sciences opened up new avenues for research and innovation that have shaped the scientific landscape as we know it.

Indeed, building on the scientific community’s burning interest in genomics, as well as major IT advances and improvements in high-throughput technologies, which enabled rapid analysis of thousands of samples or data points simultaneously, next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies soon became widely available. This allowed scientists to sequence thousands of small DNA fragments in unison, speeding up sequencing work beyond belief.

And high-throughput technologies didn’t just allow geneticists to study human DNA at a new level of sophistication; they also transformed other fields of life sciences, speeding up research and providing comprehensive insights into several biological systems. 

These new applications came together in what we now call the ‘omics’ (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics and related fields). Research in the ‘omics’ fields has generated a huge amount of data, allowing scientists to better understand biology and medicine, and leading to groundbreaking advances in epigenetics, microbiome research, cancer genomics, immunotherapy, infectious diseases and vaccine development, to name just a few. 

Today, high-throughput technologies are continuing to advance research in the life sciences. And as they become cheaper, easier and more accessible, scientists are gaining access to a nearly unlimited amount of data. 

2. The next step: ML and AI 

With IT becoming more and more advanced, we have seen the development of ML and later AI, which represent a major part of the third revolution in life sciences that is taking place today. 

Having generated big data libraries through high-throughput technologies, researchers now have an almost unlimited capacity to make sense of this data thanks to ML and AI – in turn uncovering the most complex biological processes. While humans are still crucial participants in research, as they are the ones who design experiments and make sense of results from AI, AI-driven technology is able to find patterns that humans would otherwise take much longer to recognise. For example, layering AI over genomics has enabled researchers to discover intricate patterns in rare diseases, and combining AI and proteomics has facilitated the discovery of new immunotherapy antibodies. 

Today, the use of AI/ML in the life sciences is rapidly accelerating, supporting further revolutionary innovation. AI and ML are already slowly being integrated into the healthcare sector to support informed clinical decisions and early diagnostics, and generally improve patient outcomes. Furthermore, as IT capacities continue to advance, it’s likely that personalised medicine will become the norm, with advanced computational analysis, e.g. genomics, epigenomics and microbiome analysis, performed in routine health checks. 

3. Convergence to produce modern digital health solutions: Robotics, wearables and digital devices 

The major advances in life sciences and IT that we’ve discussed so far (high-throughput technologies that generate big data, combined with AI and ML to unlock new processing power) have also crossed paths over the years with advances in other fields like physics and engineering, ultimately leading us to the next phase – what some researchers are calling ‘convergence [of life sciences, physical sciences and engineering]’. In short, convergence is a blueprint for innovation, where advances in different fields of study come together.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of convergence will be biomedicine and digital health. Indeed, with advances in engineering and other fields, researchers in this space are already making exciting discoveries – ranging from new drug delivery mechanisms at the nanoscale, to improved disease sensing, new capabilities for personalised medicine and new digital health solutions. 

In addition, lab machinery is becoming ever more sophisticated thanks to advanced robotics facilitating increased automation, coupled with high-throughput analysis that is driven by AI, making the discovery of new drugs and other medical products faster than we can even imagine. Similarly, the ubiquitous adoption of smartphones has led the way to smart wearable devices, creating new opportunities for real-time biological data collection – paired with AI, this is likely to produce major advances in diagnostics and prevention. 

When so much has happened in a mere 20 years, it begs the question: what can we expect from the next 20? It seems we have reason to be hopeful – and open-minded – about the future: the discoveries to come may well be beyond our wildest dreams!