AI-driven solutions for multi-omics analysis

Automating, harmonizing, accelerating, and democratizing multi-omics data analysis across industries.

Athos Omics AI is building a next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) platform to streamline and unify complex multi-omics data analysis. "We want to make advanced analysis of multi-omics data automated and accessible," said president and CEO Dimitrios Iliopoulos. "So even researchers without coding expertise can quickly move from raw omics data to actionable insights with minimal time and cost."

The result is Athos' all-in-one platform: an easy-to-use, no-code solution that merges automated pipelines, standardized metadata, and powerful machine-learning models. Athos' VP of artificial intelligence and machine learning, June Guo, summed up the value proposition: "We handle cloud-based compute provisioning behind the scenes, so labs don't waste money or resources. People can focus on the biology instead of wrestling with code."

Athos' offering revolves around integrated workflows for genomic, transcriptomic, and metage-nomic data, with plans to extend to proteomics, epigenomics and beyond. The platform ingests raw data (such as FASTQ files and mass-spectrometry reads) and enforces stringent quality controls—all through an intuitive, browser-based interface. At each stage, it records standardized metadata, ensuring harmonized data can be aggregated and reliably mined.

The platform includes automated data ingestion, with checks to confirm correct file formats and sequence alignments, all in a seamless environment that avoids pitfalls and errors commonly introduced by command-line tools. Cloud compute resources and advanced orchestration and services dynamically allocate graphics processing unit (GPU) and central processing unit (CPU) resources, so organizations of all sizes can avoid large up-front costs. According to CEO Hoffman, "Compared with other enterprise platforms, Athos' solution requires minimal IT intervention. Other offerings assume users have a bioinformatics or engineering background—they're far from a true no-code solution. Our design is geared to let researchers access findings and get actionable results within hours."

The power of the Athos Omics AI platform has already been demonstrated with the identification of a novel target in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the discovery and development of small-molecule drug leads, the selection of biomarkers, and the stratification of patient subtypes. Using transcriptomic and proteomic data from the Cleveland Clinic, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, and Lahey Hospital Medical Center, Athos brought a novel IBD drug from target identification to clinical trial readout in just three years—a striking turnaround for its small research and development (R&D) team. "For multifactorial diseases like IBD, classical approaches often stumble on the complexity of the underlying pathologies," explained Iliopoulos. "Our platform sifts through huge multi-omics datasets, distinguishing genuine 'hubs' from mere noise. This enabled us to identify a completely new target in IBD that not only reduces inflammation but also promotes direct intestinal tissue healing."

Beyond drug discovery and development, Athos Omics AI believes its platform can unlock value across other sectors. In agriculture, soil microbiome and plant omics data can be combined with trait data to accelerate the development of agronomically important or climate-resilient varieties. In the food and beverage sector, the platform can enable large-scale metabolite screening and breeding strategies to optimize growth, pest-resistance, yeast strain selection, fermentation, and more to drive product quality and yield. And for personal care and cosmetics, skin microbiome and transcriptome data can be integrated to tailor product formulations for consumer subgroups.

"We are industry-agnostic," said Guo. "Our core advantage is bridging raw omics data with advanced AI, all behind a user-friendly portal. Whether you're a biotech startup analyzing patient samples or a seed producer tracking plant genomes, you don't need specialized coders or HPC clusters."

Athos Omics AI aims to license the platform to a diverse clientele, offering both subscription-based software as a service (SaaS) and enterprise deployments. Early interest from potential pharma partners points to broad adoption, given the growing wave of omics data generation.

With an eye on regulatory compliance such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and full data encryption, Athos Omics AI stands ready to help universities, startups, and enterprise R&D teams harness multi-omics at scale. "We believe the future belongs to data-driven innovation," added Allan Pantuck, chairman. "By harmonizing, accelerating, and democratizing multi-omics, Athos Omics AI is making that future happen today."

Original link: https://www.nature.com/articles/d43747-025-00033-1