BioNTech and InstaDeep: efficient AI early warning system for free!

BioNTech and InstaDeep: efficient AI early warning system for free!

Mainz, 19.1.2022

German biotech company BioNTech and AI firm InstaDeep have developed an AI-based „early warning system“ to identify potentially dangerous coronavirus variants.

https://investors.biontech.de/news-releases/news-release-details/biontech-and-instadeep-developed-and-successfully-tested-early/

In tests, the data-driven computational method indicated 12 of the 13 variants that the World Health Organization later deemed dangerous. On average, the system detected the variants two months before they were classified as dangerous.

The Early Warning System (EWS) combines AI algorithms with structural modeling of spike proteins to detect and monitor high-risk variants of SARS-CoV-2.

The system flagged Omicron the same day its 2021 genome sequence was uploaded to the Gisaid database, days before WHO designated it a „variant of concern.“

The alpha, beta, gamma, theta and eta variants were also detected within a week of uploading.

A non-peer-reviewed paper detailing the system was published today on the academic repository bioRxiv.org. It was submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.

BioNTech plans to make the tool freely available.