Sartorius Joins DFKI to Support AI for Advanced Medicines

Sartorius has joined the group of shareholders of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). The life science group and DFKI have been working together in a joint research lab on the development of future-focused tools and AI applications for the production of advanced medications.

Sartorius and DFKI are currently conducting research on deep learning algorithms and methods for image recognition of cells and organoids, analysis and modeling of biological systems, and for simulation and optimization of biopharmaceutical production processes.

In August 2019, DFKI and Sartorius had opened the Sartorius AI Lab (SAIL) on the DFKI campus. At this joint research laboratory, the use of artificial intelligence in Sartorius products and platform solutions is experimentally tested and further developed. As an independent lab and a protected data space, SAIL is also available to Sartorius cooperation partners and customers.

The lab is also used for mutual training: Specialists from Sartorius work in the DFKI research ecosystem and, for example, use its deep learning hardware and expertise. In return, DFKI scientists can leverage Sartorius expertise in life sciences. SAIL is now being further extended, inter alia, by a special “wet lab,” which is a laboratory in which novel AI processes are combined directly with cellular and molecular biology experiments and can be practically tested.

“We are happy to take the next step in our partnership with Sartorius and look forward to extending it even further. At a time when research and development in medicine and biopharma is especially at the focus, the commitment of a successful global player like Sartorius as a regular DFKI partner underscores the high significance of our AI technologies for this important field,” said Professor Antonio Krüger, Ph.D., the Managing Director and Head of the Cognitive Assistants Research Department at DFKI.

“I am convinced that this partnership will result in important innovations for our industry. AI can unfold its powerful capabilities, above all in the accelerated development of more efficient medical drug manufacturing processes. In the medium term, we moreover see the potential of using AI processes to develop active pharmaceutical ingredients faster and more cost-effectively than the time‑consuming and cost‑intensive trial‑and‑error processes that are common today, thus making new therapeutics available earlier and to more patients,” stated Dr. Joachim Kreuzburg, Executive Board Chairman and CEO of Sartorius.