This week on Data in Biotech, we’re joined by Mo Jain, the Founder and CEO of Sapient, a biomarker discovery organization that enables biopharma sponsors to go beyond the genome to accelerate precision drug development. 

Mo talks us through his personal journey into the world of science, from school to working in academia to founding his business, Sapient.

He explains how and why Sapient first started and the evolution of the high-throughput mass-spectrometry service it provides to the biopharmaceutical sector. 

Together with our host Ross, they explore the technology that’s allowed scientists to explore one's medical history like never before via metabolome, lipidome, and proteome analysis.

They look at how the technology developed to allow data testing to go from running twenty tests per blood sample to twenty thousand. How have Sapient built themselves up to such a renowned status in biopharmaceuticals for large-scale data projects?

They discuss Sapient’s process when working with clients on genome projects. We learn about Sapient’s relationship with their clients, how they understand the targets and aims of each project, why they put so much importance on proprietary database management and quality control, and Sapient’s three pillars for high quality data discovery.

Finally, Mo takes the opportunity to give us his insights on the future of biomarker discovery and mass-spectrometry technology - and how AI and Machine Learning are leading to enhanced data quality and quantity. 

Data in Biotech is a fortnightly podcast exploring how companies leverage data innovation in the life sciences.

Chapter Markers

[1:33] Introduction to Mo Jain, his journey, Genomics, and Sapient’s use of Genomics data to accelerate Medicine and Drug Development 

[6:50] The types of data generated at Sapient via metabolome, lipidome & proteome, and why that data is generated

[12:30] How Sapient generates this data at scale, via specialist mass-spectrometry technology 

[14:48] The problems Sapient can solve for pharma and biotech companies with this data

[21:03] Sapient as a service company: the questions they’re asked by pharmaceutical businesses, why they come to Sapient, and Sapient’s process for answering those questions. 

[26:23] computational frameworks and data handling side of things, and how the team interact with the client

[29:59] Proprietary database development and quality control 

[35:27] The future of biomarker discovery and mass-spectrometry technology, and how AI and Machine Learning are leading the way at Sapient