Tunisian artificial intelligence company InstaDeep and German biotech firm BioNTech have developed an early warning system to detect potential high-risk variants of the Coronavirus, according to a joint statement published Tuesday by the two companies on their websites.
According to the statement, the early warning system uses a combination of artificial intelligence and structural modelling of the Spike protein to detect and monitor high-risk variants of the SARS-CoV2 virus, identifying more than 90 % of these variants within two months of their receipt from the World Health Organization.
This system offers a new way to combine publicly available SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequence information with effective surveillance of potentially high-risk variants, which can help increase preparedness against dangerous and worrisome variants in the future.
InstaDeep co-founder and CEO Karim Bakir said, according to the release, “This system currently detects more than 10,000 new variants every week, and experts cannot handle complex data in this area.
“For the first time, high-risk variants can be detected immediately, which can save months of valuable time and help us make our research publicly available.
“Early notification of potential high-risk changes can be an effective tool to alert researchers, vaccine developers, health authorities and policymakers, allowing more time to respond to new and worrying changes,” explained Biontech’s CEO and co-founder.
TunisianMonitorOnline
