In the fight against cancer—and the aim of finding more effective treatments—two NYSTAR-funded programs are using artificial intelligence to pursue significant breakthroughs for patients and providers.
Envisagenics, supported by the Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University, is a pioneering biotech company that has been applying AI to drug target discovery for over a decade. In drug development, targets are molecular structures (often proteins) where drugs bind to exert their therapeutic effects. For cancer, an ideal target is a cell-surface protein found exclusively on tumor cells but not in healthy tissues.
To identify such targets, Envisagenics developed SpliceCore®, an AI-powered platform that mines and analyzes large-scale RNA sequencing data from patient samples to uncover disease-specific splicing events. Although RNA splicing is one of the most important mechanisms for generating protein diversity—impacting over 95% of human genes—it has historically been underutilized in drug development due to its biological complexity and the computational scale required to study it. SpliceCore was designed specifically to address this gap. It applies AI throughout the target discovery pipeline, from raw data processing to the generation and validation of therapeutic assets, enabling the identification of disease-specific splicing events that traditional methods miss.
The Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University played a key role in Envisagenics’ early development, advising the founders on company formation, business model strategy, intellectual property, and licensing. This foundational support helped Envisagenics build a robust and scalable target discovery engine.
Today, Envisagenics operates one of the industry’s leading platforms for target discovery. Its proprietary splicing database—now exceeding 14 million splicing events—powers AI-driven identification of novel drug targets at an unprecedented scale. This innovation has led to strategic partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Biogen, and Bristol Myers Squibb. By unlocking new therapeutic opportunities in oncology and neurodegeneration, Envisagenics continues to lead the convergence of AI and biotechnology, transforming how the next generation of precision medicines are discovered.
Up the Thruway toward Syracuse, another innovative startup is leaning on AI in the fight against cancer, too.
Backed by SUNY Upstate Medical University’s business incubator, BiRed Imaging, Inc.—a CNY Biotech Accelerator (CNYBAC) 2023 Medical Device Innovation Challenge graduate and client startup company—is commercializing an innovative AI-enabled thermophysics approach for early detection of breast cancer, the one of the most common cancers and second-leading cause of cancer deaths among women.
The American Cancer Society estimates 317,000 new cases of and 42,000 deaths in 2025 from breast cancer. Early detection continues to be the best weapon in the fight. BiRed’s system—which uses AI and thermal imaging to detect tumors without breast compression or radiation, and to obtain the accurate size and location of malignant tumors—makes early detection easier and more precise.
Developed through six years of research at Rochester Institute of Technology and Rochester General Hospital (RGH)—and backed by a $305,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Phase 1 grant to advance its AI-powered technology—the BiRed Imaging technology has accurately identified tumors in 25 biopsy-proven cases. As a complement to mammography, it remains effective even for dense breast tissue and offers a non-invasive, cost-effective alternative for early detection. Currently undergoing additional clinical studies at RGH under an approved institutional review board (IRB), BiRed is working towards proving the efficacy of their technology while improving patient comfort and overall clinical workflow.
Together, the efforts of Envisagenics and BiRed have provided a glimpse of AI’s potential benefits for patients and healthcare providers, all while highlighting New York’s willingness to invest in the development of innovative approaches to cancer care.