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A collaboration between Parse Biosciences’ GigaLab and Vevo Therapeutics has produced the Tahoe-100M dataset, the largest single-cell dataset ever created, comprising 100 million cells. This dataset covers 60,000 conditions, 1,200 drug treatments, and 50 tumor models. Vevo plans to use it to enhance its AI-based drug discovery methods. The project was completed in about a month, using single-cell RNA sequencing from Parse and high-throughput sequencing from Ultima Genomics.
Vevo's Chief Science Officer, highlighted that this dataset marks a significant advancement for Vevo’s Mosaic platform, which generates high-resolution in vivo data at scale to measure drug effects on cells from hundreds of patients. The Tahoe-100M dataset is 50 times larger than all publicly available drug-perturbed single-cell data. It aims to help AI tools make connections between drugs and disease pathways, opening new therapeutic possibilities.
Vevo is particularly interested in using this dataset to train AI models for better understanding the language of cells and discovering new cancer treatments. The dataset includes data from diseased cells, which could improve drug discovery efforts. According to Vevo’s CEO Nima Alidoust, the large dataset is essential for training AI models to detect important relationships between drugs and diseases.
The company plans to combine the Tahoe-100M dataset with its AI models to identify novel targets and drug compounds for cancer subtypes. Over the last two years, Vevo has refined its platform to work at large scales, and the access to Parse’s GigaLab will help drive AI-based drug discovery more quickly. Vevo is also planning to announce more collaborations around the dataset in early 2024.
Parse’s GigaLab, using its Evercode technology, supports large-scale single-cell sequencing projects. GigaLab can handle projects of 10 million cells or more, with a capacity to profile up to 2.5 billion cells annually. The collaboration with Vevo also highlights Parse's ability to deliver high speed, quality, and scalability for large scientific projects.
Beyond the Vevo partnership, Parse is exploring other opportunities to use GigaLab’s capabilities with biopharma companies and research consortia. This collaboration reflects a growing trend of using massive datasets and AI to advance drug discovery. The work was published in an undisclosed journal.
