MANILA, Philippines – Filipino-founded biotech firm InterVenn Biosciences on Friday, July 22, launched its Philippine office. Though the company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, the team that developed and maintains the proprietary AI technology that speeds up certain research processes for the company is made up mostly of Filipinos residing in the Philippines, including one of its founders, AI and blockchain expert Aldo Carrascoso. The company has about 150 Filipinos working in the Philippines, majority of whom are software developers, and who make up half of the company. Through the help of the company's advanced AI platform, the company is able to help its global groups of researchers and scientists significantly reduce the time it takes for some processes such as analysis of samples from months to seconds. It's through this meaningful application of AI that the firm has been able to make strides in the field since its founding in 2017, as well as strides in funding.

According to Wikipedia, the earliest diagnostic biopsy was conducted by an Arab physician in the 11th century. The term "biopsy" derives from the Greek word bios which means life and the also Greek word "opsis" which means sight. It was first introduced in the 19th century and since then medical researchers and practitioners have developed several techniques to perform biopsies on living organs or tissues needed further observation. Modern instruments such as intestinal biopsy tubes can extract samples from parts of the body where it is difficult to have access or even hazardous. In the cases described above, this histologic procedure is invasive and quite complicated putting a financial burden, not to mention the extra strain on the patient.

A simple-to-take test that tells if you have a tumor lurking, and even where it is in your body, is a lot closer to reality--and may cost only $500. The new test, developed at Johns Hopkins University, looks for signs of eight common types of cancer. It requires only a blood sample and may prove inexpensive enough for doctors to give during a routine physical. "The idea is this test would make its way into the public and we could set up screening centers," says Nickolas Papadopoulos, one of the Johns Hopkins researchers behind the test. "That's why it has to be cheap and noninvasive."

Trans-Pacific View author Mercy Kuo regularly engages subject-matter experts, policy practitioners, and strategic thinkers across the globe for their diverse insights into the U.S. Asia policy. This conversation with Eleonore Pauwels – Director of Biology Collectives and Senior Program Associate, Science and Technology Innovation Program at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C. – is the 104th in "The Trans-Pacific View Insight Series." With large public and private investments inland and in the U.S., China plans to become the next AI-Genomics powerhouse, which indicates that these technologies will soon converge in China. China's ambition is to lead the global market for precision medicine, which necessitates acquiring strategic technological and human capital in both genomics and AI. A sharp blow in this U.S.-China competition happened in 2013 when BGI purchased Complete Genomics, in California, with the intent to build its own advanced genomic sequencing machines, therefore securing a technological knowhow mainly mastered by U.S. producers.