AI is transforming all corners of the healthcare and biotech industries, from the science of drug development to specialist practices in hospital settings.

AI both accelerates and expands scientific research, opening new areas of inquiry while accelerating the transition from pure research to products and technologies that improve people’s lives.

AI, however, is resource-intensive: it requires a substantial technology investment to support its massive data requirements and the processing necessary to drive results.

The cloud is the key. Given its effectively unlimited scalability and flexibility, cloud computing provides the resources healthcare scientists and researchers require.

The breadth of AI-powered innovation in healthcare and life sciencesThe breadth of AI-powered innovation in healthcare and life sciences

Researchers within the broad healthcare and biotech scientific community leverage AI for a range of use cases, including drug discovery, genomics, health tech, and med tech, to name a few.

High performance computing in the cloud facilitates the simultaneous screening of multiple drug candidates, accelerates genomic studies for the identification of rare diseases, and drives simulations far faster than earlier generations of technology could manage.

Dr. Ilya Burkov, Global Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences Growth at Nebius, has first-hand experience with the power of AI in healthcare. “Researchers are fast-tracking a drug to market without compromising its safety or efficacy, ” Dr. Burkov explains. “AI slashes timelines, but it also reduces the costs involved.”

In fact, simulating molecular interactions with AI takes hours, instead of the years that previous approaches required. As a result, researchers can test far more promising compounds than before. “We also find that AI boosts precision, not only in the candidates of the drug, but also on the groups that are selected for the trial, ” Dr. Burkov continues.

AI also enhances safety monitoring during drug trials, because researchers can test and model effects beforehand. Another plus for every weary scientist: AI can automate the creation of much of the regulatory documentation that burdens every researcher’s day.

Building an AI-centric cloudBuilding an AI-centric cloud

The core enabling technology for this rapid explosion of AI-empowered innovation is the GPU — a specialized computer chip that accelerates the modeling and inferencing operations at the heart of AI.

According to Dr. Burkov, “GPUs can process large datasets, aiding in the discovery of novel drug targets and biomarkers for personalized medicine.”

All of today’s cloud providers offer GPUs as part of their infrastructure offerings. However, the large hyperscaler clouds are essentially general-purpose, supporting use cases well beyond AI.

Nebius, on the other hand, has built its cloud offering specifically for AI — not just the GPUs and associated high-performance hardware, but the software as well.

“We have a full stack solution, which not only includes access to the latest NVIDIA GPUs, but also a software layer on top, ” Dr. Burkov explains. “We provide tailored AI infrastructure with strategic support and dedicated technical guidance from solution architects to basically optimize all of the AI workloads that researchers have, making sure that they scale up efficiently.”

Nebius’s goal is to provide AI-centric cloud infrastructure that both enables innovation as well as the speed and scale that people have come to expect from cloud offerings.

In addition to core infrastructure, Nebius manages the underlying complexities of cloud and software operations — including DevOps for rapid development and MLOps to streamline AI deployment and maintenance. “Our support spans the entire AI lifecycle, ” Dr. Burkov adds. “We assist with data preparation, labelling, training, and inference — everything required to scale high-performance GPU clusters, supported by a robust software stack and developer tools.

Supporting innovation with the AI discovery awardSupporting innovation with the AI discovery award

Nebius’s support for the healthcare and biotech industry extends beyond the infrastructure and technical support for healthcare and biotech researchers. The company also supports the industry directly via the annual AI Discovery Award.
This award recognizes companies within the drug discovery and drug development industry, as well as genomics, multi-omics, healthtech and biotech companies.

Winners of each category of the AI Discovery Award receive credits on the Nebius platform, as well as media exposure and connections to an extensive investor network to help startups pitch to venture capitalists and gain market traction.

Dr. Burkov sees the award as supporting Nebius’s core mission. “And at the core of what we do is we remove the infrastructure barriers, ” he explains. “We make partnerships and help companies focus on innovation and market entry with a lot more confidence than they would have been just getting GPU from somebody else.”

The Intellyx takeThe Intellyx take

For companies that have spent most of their history focusing on traditional lab environments, AI can transform their work — and the value their research can provide.

Such companies — and the researchers that work for them — are now realizing that they can save significant time and money by leveraging the data analysis and automation capabilities that AI can provide.

The most exciting part of this story, however, is how AI opens up new possibilities. Researchers can now expand their ambitions and tackle challenges previously thought to be out of reach.

More information about the Nebius AI Discovery Awards — including all shortlisted companies in each category, qualification criteria and a full jury list — can be found at nebius.com/ai-discovery-award.

Copyright © Intellyx B.V. Intellyx is an analyst firm providing expert advice on digital transformation for business and IT leaders, and supporting innovative vendors and startups. Nebius is an Intellyx customer. No AI was used to write this article.