Illumina has launched what it calls the largest genome‑wide genetic perturbation dataset ever assembled, a resource designed to accelerate AI‑driven drug discovery across the pharmaceutical industry. The new Billion Cell Atlas represents the first installment of a planned five‑billion‑cell atlas that the company expects to complete over the next three years. Illumina said the project will ultimately form the most comprehensive map of human disease biology generated to date. The Atlas is being built in collaboration with AstraZeneca, Merck, and Eli Lilly, which are participating as founding participants. Together, the companies are generating a curated set of cell lines that will be used to validate drug targets, train large‑scale AI models, and probe biological mechanisms that have historically been difficult to study. Jacob Thaysen, PhD, Illumina’s CEO, said the scale of the initiative is intended to reshape how AI is applied in early discovery. “We believe the cell atlas is a key development that will enable us to significantly scale AI for drug discovery,” he said. “We are building an unparalleled resource for training the next generation of AI models for precision medicine and drug target identification.” How pharma partners plan to use the Atlas Merck plans to use the dataset to support its precision medicine approaches across drug discovery pipelines and AI/ML models. The company expects the Atlas to help train its proprietary foundation models and support the development of virtual cell models aimed at improving disease‑indication prediction. “By harnessing advanced genomic patient datasets, Merck scientists are building and…
