Roman Kasianov
Covers AI in drug discovery, digital pathology, and translational R&D, editor of "Where Tech Meets Bio"; oversees company profiles, partnerships, and core operations at BiopharmaTrend.
Recent articles from Roman
Is “Rescuing Failed Drugs with AI” a Category Now?
Inside the growing bet that AI can find the patients pharma's failed trials missed...
In April, a Toronto-based startup called Biossil came out of stealth with a total of $70 million in funding, co-led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund …
Life Biosciences Gets $80M as Cellular Rejuvenation Enters the Clinic
Boston-based Life Biosciences, co-founded by David Sinclair, has closed an $80 million Series D financing to fund its first-in-human clinical program and extend operations into 2027. The capital is allocated primarily to a Phase 1 trial of ER-100 …
Everyone is Launching AI Agents. What's Being Deployed?
A deep dive on the next cycle of biopharma's AI buildout
Last year's "growing buzz around AI agents" that we surveyed has since grown into a full avalanche of infrastructure commitments, partnerships, and agent launches across nearly every corner …
$1 Billion-Backed Xaira Launches Its First Virtual Cell Model
Xaira Therapeutics has announced X-Cell, the company's first virtual cell model. It is a 4.9-billion-parameter diffusion language model designed to predict how cells respond to genetic perturbations, including in biological contexts not seen during training. X-Cell is trained on X-Atlas/Pisces, …
Recursion Logs Fifth Sanofi Milestone, Says Joint Immunology-Oncology Portfolio Has Potential for 15 Programs
Salt Lake City clinical-stage AI drug developer Recursion reported a fifth progress-based milestone in its collaboration with Sanofi, bringing total payments under that partnership to $134 million to date. The company also disclosed $754 million in cash and cash equivalents …
OpenAI Backs Ultrasound-Based Brain-Computer Interface Startup With $252M Seed Round
Merge Labs has emerged from stealth with $252 million in funding to develop non-implantable brain–computer interfaces that use ultrasound and molecular approaches rather than electrodes. The company is cofounded by Sam Altman and is positioned at the intersection of neurotechnology, …
Insilico Deploys its Chemistry Foundation Model on Microsoft Discovery Platform
Insilico Medicine reported the deployment of its Nach01 multimodal foundation model on Microsoft Discovery, Microsoft’s Azure-based platform for AI-driven research and development. The demonstration illustrates how third-party foundation models can be orchestrated within a single enterprise environment to support end-to-end …
Novo Nordisk Foundation Commits €736M to Scale European Life Sciences
The Novo Nordisk Foundation has committed up to €736 million (~$856 million) to Copenhagen-based BioInnovation Institute in a nine-year funding program aimed at expanding early-stage life sciences and deep tech activity across Europe. The capital is earmarked to increase the …
Converge Bio Raises $25M for Generative AI Systems in Antibody and Protein Design
Converge Bio, a Boston- and Tel Aviv-based startup developing generative AI systems for drug discovery, has raised a $25 million oversubscribed Series A round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from TLV Partners, Saras Capital, Vintage Investment Partners, and …
NVIDIA and Lilly Launch $1B AI Co-Innovation Hub for Drug Discovery in South San Francisco
Eli Lilly and NVIDIA announced at the January 12, 2026 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco that they are creating a new AI co-innovation lab in South San Francisco, with the companies planning to invest up to $1 billion …