Broad Institute and Manifold Collaborate to Build AI-Enabled Life Sciences Research Platform to Accelerate Global Discoveries

Key Takeaways:

• The Broad Institute and Manifold are collaborating to develop an AI-enabled life sciences research platform.
• The new platform builds upon the Broad Institute’s existing Terra platform, introducing advanced capabilities.
• Key features include bring your own cloud (BYOC) support, enhanced scalability, and AI-driven tools.
• The initiative emphasizes secure data sharing, global collaboration, and responsible stewardship.
• Leaders Todd Golub, Eric S. Lander, and Vinay Seth Mohta highlight the platform’s potential impact.

Pioneering a New Frontier in Biomedical Research

The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has entered a strategic collaboration with Manifold, an AI-powered platform specializing in biomedical research infrastructure. This partnership aims to develop a cutting-edge, AI-enabled research platform designed to accelerate global discoveries by removing technical barriers inherent in data analysis and sharing.

“As we look to the future, we’ve been seeking a collaborator who shares our vision for Terra and has the technical and scientific track record to help us bring powerful, collaborative data-management and analysis tools into the next decade,” said Todd Golub, Director of the Broad Institute. “Manifold’s expertise in platforms to power life sciences research makes them an ideal collaborator.”

Building on the Terra Platform

The new initiative expands upon the Broad Institute’s existing Terra platform—a trusted system for large-scale data analysis and secure collaboration. The enhanced architecture will introduce advanced capabilities, including:

• Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC): Allowing researchers to align with their organization’s cloud strategy, offering flexibility and solutions to fragmented data ecosystems.
• Enhanced Scalability: Designed to accommodate the exponential growth of biomedical data, supporting higher user volumes, complex workflows, and massive datasets without performance compromise.
• Purpose-Built AI Agents: Providing advanced capabilities such as natural language search, cohort building, automated survival and gene expression analysis, and interactive data exploration.

Advancing Global Collaboration

The platform aims to nurture a global community of scientists by fostering seamless collaboration and integrating diverse expertise. By democratizing access to innovative pipelines and methodologies, it empowers researchers worldwide to draw insights from vast and complex datasets more effectively.

“It’s now becoming possible to work simultaneously across many different types of biomedical information and identify connections and insights that were out of reach just a few years ago,” said Eric S. Lander, Founding Director of the Broad Institute. “Our goal is to ensure scientists everywhere have access to the advanced tools and methods necessary to generate these insights by removing the technical barriers that limit researchers’ ability to advance progress for science and medicine.”

Commitment to Secure Data Sharing

Maintaining the core values of the Terra platform, the new system emphasizes secure sharing, global collaboration, and responsible stewardship. Data providers will retain full control over who is permitted to access and use their data, ensuring adherence to data usage policies, fine-grained access controls, and comprehensive audit trails.

Manifold’s Expertise Enhances the Platform

Founded in 2016, Manifold specializes in eliminating manual bottlenecks in data collection, organization, governance, and analysis. By enabling researchers to focus on discovery, Manifold unlocks the full potential of data without technical barriers. The company’s platform supports transformative projects at leading organizations, including the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Morehouse School of Medicine.

“Manifold and Broad are redefining the future of biomedical research with a new platform that advances the principles of Terra while setting new standards for innovation and accessibility,” said Vinay Seth Mohta, CEO of Manifold. “By combining Broad’s expertise in biomedical science with Manifold’s technical leadership, we are removing barriers to progress and enabling researchers to work faster, smarter, and more collaboratively than ever before.”

Fostering Open Science and Innovation

The Broad Institute’s software engineering team, along with computational and biological scientists from the Broad research community, will actively contribute to the platform. With a continued commitment to open science and sharing reproducible techniques and insights, the collaboration is poised to drive significant impact in biomedical research globally.

Looking Ahead

This strategic partnership marks a significant step toward revolutionizing biomedical research. By integrating AI-enabled tools with robust data-sharing capabilities, the Broad Institute and Manifold are paving the way for scientists worldwide to unlock new discoveries and advance the frontiers of medicine.