Brought to you by Strand Life Sciences & Myriad Genetics!
Agenda
5:00-5:45 - Arrival & Networking
5:45 - Presentations
Moderators: Radhakrishna Bettadapura and Jaya Singh
Connecting Metadata, Analytics, and AI to Accelerate Target and Drug
Discovery
Presenter: Shrutee Jakhanwal, Associate Director - Product Management, Strand Life Sciences
Metadata harmonization, scalable analysis pipelines, and AI foundational models together form the backbone of modern target discovery. By standardizing
heterogeneous omics datasets, harmonized metadata enables meaningful cross-
study comparisons and deeper biological context. Strand’s scRNA portal hosts
disease-specific datasets across multiple modalities. It currently includes over
4,700 samples across two disease areas, with deep metadata curation, including
clinical phenotypes. To improve scale and accuracy, we have developed a RAG-
based LLM tool, achieving ~3× faster turnaround compared to manual curation, with
an independent evaluator LLM delivering >95% accuracy. We are also building robust
analysis pipelines to ensure consistent, reproducible insights at scale. In parallel,
our AI toolkit integrates single-cell foundational models, including gene perturbation
modeling, achieving ~10-20% lower mean squared error than GEARS and
AttentionPert, with Pearson correlation of 0.87-0.92. This talk will highlight how
these capabilities come together to enable scalable, data-driven target discovery.
AI-Native Operating System for Drug Development
Presenters: Twesh Malkani, Growth Lead, Cheiron
This talk introduces Cheiron’s AI-native operating system for drug development,
designed to unify scientific, clinical, regulatory, and competitive workflows.
Powered by a Lifesciences Knowledge Graph, it connects diverse data sources and
enables workflow-native AI agents, accelerating decision-making and streamlining
biopharma processes from insight generation to execution.
BioInformatics Workflows for Scaled Clinical Genomics
Presenters: Sajja Vinay Kumar, Associate Software Engineer III, Strand Life
Sciences and Samuel Pearlman, Senior Bioinformatics Software Engineer, Myriad
Genetics
Scaling clinical genomics requires workflows that ensure traceability,
reproducibility, and regulatory alignment amid growing data complexity and
diverse analytical platforms. In this talk, Strand presents a framework that
separates pipelines into independent repositories, and standardizes pipeline
configuration, versioning, and release management across workflows, while
centralizing configuration in ConfigDB, a database-backed service. Additionally,
Myriad Genetics discusses some of the strategies used to by them to address
some of the major challenges associated with complex bioinformatics pipelines
and analyses and support both Production and Research workflows.
DeepCAH: Deep Learning in Variant Calling for Difficult Genes
Presenter: Jing Liu, Myriad Genetics
The genetic complexity of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) makes it difficult
to call variants of the disease. We will explore how machine learning was utilized to
make this process easier and to narrow down on diagnoses.
An Expert-Led Panel on AI Tools to Advance Precision Medicine
An expert panel discussion on the challenges in validation, integration and
scalability of AI models will follow the above talks. This interactive session will
unpack some of the key bottlenecks in deploying AI models for data curation,
integrating scalable AI workflows and how GPT-based chatbots are influencing this
dynamic space.
General Announcements
7:30 - 9pm - Networking
Food will be Provided
Parking will be available in the garage adjacent to Myriad
Parking will be open until 9:30 pm
Arriving:
Please go into the lobby of the Nexus building and you will be let up for the event
WEBINAR
You are invited to a Zoom webinar!
When: Apr 8, 2026 05:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Topic: BayBifx - AI Tools in Precision Medicine
Join from PC, Mac, iPad, or Android:
https://myriad.zoom.us/j/91699514238?pwd=cx4a1c7t8pRbSsec07vq5Z3TPrQhZt.1
Passcode:272768
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Webinar ID: 916 9951 4238
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International numbers available: https://myriad.zoom.us/u/abUNWRo0mA
