PRESS RELEASE

24/05/2021

Belfast-based AI data discovery company Sonrai Analytics has announced today that it is launching a cutting-edge architecture that will lead to faster and more effective discovery of key mechanisms and drivers within healthcare enabled by artificial intelligence. The platform has been developed with the support of Dell Technologies, NVIDIA, Cancer Research UK and Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency.

Powered by Dell Technologies latest PowerEdge servers and NVIDIA GPUs, the purpose-built AI solution will empower Sonrai Analytics to train a huge volume of AI models. This is also enabled by efficient Power and Cooling provided by APC Schneider and AIOps service partner Securelinx. The infrastructure will allow for more complex algorithms and architectures to analyse data faster, speed-up discovery and unlock important insights that could lead to healthcare breakthroughs within the innovative test environment.

Dr Darragh McArt, CEO of Sonrai Analytics, said: “The relationships developed with NVIDIA and Dell in the technology sphere are important to help promote and foster innovation, allowing Sonrai to really add value towards our discovery of patterns within disease. This cutting-edge hardware will help advance our Data Science and Deep Learning operations to the next level. It enables our team to apply AI on bigger datasets using state-of-the-art algorithms whilst also reaching optimal solutions faster.”

At present, large AI experiments can take days to complete. Datasets of hundreds of patients routinely contain terabytes of molecular and imaging data. As the size and complexity of the data sets continue to scale, so too will the analytical challenges that they pose.  

Commenting on the launch of the platform, George Maybury, Public Sector Director at Dell Technologies Ireland and Northern Ireland said: “Performance, availability and scalability are key for innovative companies like Sonrai Analytics that are harnessing the power of AI to improve patient outcomes. With the latest next generation Dell EMC PowerEdge, the team at Sonrai Analytics will be able to analyse vast quantities of data at speed and accelerate the development of precision medicine.” 

“Data science workflows have traditionally been slow and cumbersome,” said Craig Rhodes, EMEA Industry Lead, AI for Health and Life Sciences at NVIDIA. “Dell selected NVIDIA RTX GPUs to enable superior performance for end-to-end data science workflows in the healthcare field, where speed, efficiency and accuracy significantly impact patient outcomes.”

Dr David Crosby, Head of Prevention and Early Detection Research for Cancer Research UK, said: “This application of artificial intelligence to data from tissue-based and genomics-based approaches has the potential to identify which colorectal cancers may be at risk of recurrence and could aid in earlier detection of ‘born to be bad’ tumour types which may require additional treatment.”

The infrastructure has capacity to support many AI applications and one potential use is within a £7 million partnership with the world’s leading Biotech company Roche and the Northern Ireland Precision Medicine Centre through the ACTIONED programme, funded jointly by Innovate UK and Cancer Research UK. The AI infrastructure has capacity to support our development of deep learning algorithms that could help transform the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer. 

ENDS

For media enquiries contact:

Chris Martin 

Head of Marketing, Sonrai Analytics

P: 07517428996 

E: c.martin@sonraianalytics.com

NOTES TO EDITOR

Sonrai Analytics

Sonrai Analytics, established in 2018 by Dr Darragh McArt and Deva Senevirathne, uses AI and deep learning to enable Contract Research Organisations (CROs), Biotech and Pharma to unlock critical information contained within Big Data. The data is generated by researchers in drug trials and other healthcare research contexts that can lead to faster and more effective treatments for cancer and other diseases. The platform (InDRA) delivers cutting-edge data visualisation and predictive analytics to workflows that accelerate organisational processes and improves performance. Read More

Nvidia

Sonrai Analytics is part of the NVIDIA Inception programme. The exclusive programme is designed to nurture start-ups revolutionising industries with advancements in AI and data sciences. Read More

ACTIONED Programme

The ACTIONED programme is a ground-breaking £7 million collaboration to improve outcomes for patients with early-stage cancer. The consortium includes the world’s largest biotech company Roche, Artificial Intelligence (AI) specialist Sonrai Analytics and the Precision Medicine Centre of Excellence at Queen’s (PMC). Read More

Innovate UK

Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas. For more information visit www.innovateuk.ukri.org

About Cancer Research UK 

• Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research
• Cancer Research UK’s pioneering work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives.
• Cancer Research UK receives no government funding for its life-saving research. Every step it makes towards beating cancer relies on every donation made.
• Cancer Research UK has been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival in the UK double in the last 40 years.
• Today, 2 in 4 people survive their cancer for at least 10 years. Cancer Research UK’s ambition is to accelerate progress so that by 2034, 3 in 4 people will survive their cancer for at least 10 years.
• Cancer Research UK supports research into all aspects of cancer through the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses.
• Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK’s vision is to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.

For further information about Cancer Research UK’s work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 0300 123 1022 or visit www.cancerresearchuk.org. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. 

About Dell Technologies

Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) helps organizations and individuals build their digital future and transform how they work, live and play. The company provides customers with the industry’s broadest and most innovative technology and services portfolio for the data era.