Triangle headlines: Syngenta AI competition; Red Hat-bioinformatics deal; Marken-Mount Everest blood deliveries … – WRAL Tech Wire

Posted Jan. 31, 2017 at 9:45 a.m.

Published: 2017-01-31 09:45:00 Updated: 2017-01-31 09:45:00

By Wire reports

Research Triangle Park, N.C. In news from Triangle and N.C. tech as well as life science companies:

The details:

From Syngenta:

Syngenta and the AI for Good Foundation have partnered to launch the Syngenta AI Challenge, a new international competition focused on leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for use in seed breeding. The competition is accepting submissions from applicants who are ready to put their programming skills to the test for the chance to win $7,500.

"This new competition will give entrants the chance to use their talents to take on the extraordinary complexity of seed genetic data," said Joseph Byrum, Ph.D., MBA, PMP and senior R&D strategic marketing executive with Syngenta. "In the face of a rising global population, we need to grow plants that can adapt and thrive in changing conditions especially as vital resources like water and land are finite. The Syngenta AI Challenge is about creating models that can help solve this puzzle and ensure world food security."

The competition challenges participants to develop a model that can be used to analyze large amounts of seed data more effectively, ultimately leading to improvements in the world's ability to grow more food in the face of changing environments without using more resources. The premise of the competition underscores Syngenta's commitment to make crops more efficient an important tenet of The Good Growth Plan, Syngenta's global initiative to improve the sustainability of agriculture.

From Red Hat:

Red Hat on Monday announced that the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, is using Red Hat OpenStack Platform to deliver the scale and flexibility required to drive its Embassy Cloud project. The goal of Embassy Cloud is to transform the way collaborative research, such as pan-cancer analysis, tackles the worlds toughest biological challenges.

EMBL-EBI provides freely available data from life-science experiments to researchers worldwide. On average per day there are more than 16 million requests to use data on its websites. EMBL-EBI actively encourages collaboration, inspires new research and provides advanced bioinformatics training to scientists at all levels. Increasingly, it is working to provide a common IT infrastructure on which research organizations of all sizes can work.

The life sciences industry has a long tradition of collaboration. However, modern research requires access to huge data sets, and not every research institute has the resources to create the necessary computing power. Embassy Cloud provides private, more secure, virtual-machine-based workspaces within the EMBL-EBI infrastructure, where collaborators can make optimal use of their own customized workflows, applications and datasets.

From Marken:

Marken has successfully completed shipments originating from Mount Everest as part of an important research program designed to study the effects of high altitude on the human body.

Blood samples were collected from 67 subjects at various altitudes on the mountain and then transported to Kathmanduand on to a laboratory in Canada. The subjects were accompanied by Sherpa and an expedition team from theUniversity of British Columbia. Study participants donated 3000 vials of blood taken at a variety of altitudes. The blood samples were shipped by helicopter to transport the samples from various higher camps on the mountain to the base camp. Marken collected the samples in Kathmanduand shipped them over a weekend in a frozen state to theUniversity of British Columbiafor testing.

Marken took responsibility for managing the shipments during the lengthy trip from NepalthroughTurkeyand on toCanada. Marken's Global Control Center in Mumbaitracked the shipment in real time through every leg of the journey. TheMumbaiteam monitors all shipments into and out of the region and transmits data through its proprietary Maestro operating system. Maestro is supported by its exclusive Sentry device which monitors GPS location, temperature, altitude, light exposure and shock.

From Chiltern:

Chiltern, a leading global contract research organization, has announced the opening of its new process and technology center in Bangalore, India. The new office is a direct result of the companys continued success and fulfills a need to further enhance its global data capabilities.

We believe we have compiled one of the best teams in the industry, said Mark Penniston, executive vice president, clinical analytics, and general manager at Chiltern. We need this facility to maintain pace with our continued growth, and having an office in the heart of the city provides shorter commutes and a better quality of life for our industry-leading employees.

The first Chiltern office in India opened more than a decade ago with five programmers. In total, the companys offices in India will be able to support more than 600 employees.

From PPD:

Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC (PPD) is opening a new 24-bed clinical research unit in Las Vegas, enhancing its ability to conduct complex, procedurally intensive Phase I andearly developmentclinical research on behalf of pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients.

In its location adjacent to the Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican, San Martn campus, the new clinical research unit will utilize the facilitys hospital-based services and medical expertise to meet PPD clients needs for early phase trials. The new operation will offer the same extensive experience and world-class quality established by PPDs Phase I unitin Austin, Texas, but it will support trials involving healthy and patient volunteers, and will utilize registered nurses as part of the subject management team. PPD anticipates initiating its first studies at the facility in the third quarter of 2017.

This new state-of-the art operation will provide us with the capability to include healthy and patient volunteers in first-in-human through proof-of-concept trials, which are becoming progressively more complex in nature, said Cindy Doerfler, vice president of PPDs early development division.

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Triangle headlines: Syngenta AI competition; Red Hat-bioinformatics deal; Marken-Mount Everest blood deliveries ... - WRAL Tech Wire