US Air Force improves data exploitation with the cloud

The seamless exploitation of data has become a priority in the age of modern warfare. The US Air Force (USAF) is already making headway on its cloud migration to put its siloed data to the most effective use for optimal performance in the skies. 

Considering the importance of data exploitation today, the US Department of Defense (DoD) has decided to invest further in the USAF’s data-as-a-service (DaaS) platform. The DoD has therefore awarded its continued supplier, Palantir, an $18m contract to extend its existing DaaS work. 

The contract modification provides for a DaaS platform that supports three mission areas to automatically ingest data across the Department of the Air Force that informs personnel decisions, planning and operations, and space situational awareness and command and control (C2). 

The three mission areas that Palantir’s DaaS continues to support include Space C2; NORAD’s Joint All Domain Command and Control transformation; and Project Brown Heron, which is an electronic surveillance programme initiated by the USAF. 

The total cumulative face value of the contract is $195,724,056. Work will be performed in Palo Alto, California, and is expected to be completed by 15 June 2023. 

Sub header - Data deluge 

The amount of data the USAF accrues would defy belief. The observe, orient, decide, act (OODA) loop increasingly relies on a large array of sensors and other data streams, including various intelligence, from signals intelligence to opensource intelligence, to increase the speed and precision of decision-making. 

GlobalData’s report on Cloud Computing in Aerospace, Defence and Security (2023) tells us that the continuous monitoring of situations is critical for command, control, communications, computer intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR). This would inevitably generate a deluge of data with a high noise-to-actionable intelligence ratio. 

This data is only useful once analysed, disseminated, and turned into actionable outputs for front-line users. This is no small task. As big data becomes increasingly integrated into the armed forces, militaries must develop capabilities or work with companies that can handle and draw useful insights from enormous and varied datasets. 

SOPHiA GENETICS is expanding its collaboration with AstraZeneca to include multimodal approaches for developing cancer drugs. 

This collaboration aims to use the global SOPHiA DDM platform, a cloud-native platform of SOPHiA GENETICS, and multimodal algorithmic capabilities for AstraZeneca’s oncology portfolio. 

SOPHiA GENETICS’ platform can analyse data and produce insights from complex multimodal data sets and different diagnostic modalities. 

The company expects that its platform and multimodal capabilities will lead to a new era of precision oncology by improving early diagnosis and patient identification, accelerating innovative medicines adoption along the care pathway and optimising clinical development. 

The multimodal approach will combine radiomics analysis of molecular data, medical imaging data, digital pathology, and clinical and biologic data for a comprehensive evaluation of multimodal signatures using AI and machine learning technology. 

SOPHiA GENETICS and AstraZeneca will together examine ways to expedite clinical trials and improve clinical decision-making. 

They will also support evidence generation for market access and help clinicians choose the best possible treatments. 

SOPHiA GENETICS chief biopharma officer Peter Casasanto said: “AstraZeneca is a global leader in innovative oncology therapeutics and has built one of the most diverse and robust oncology portfolios and R&D pipelines in the industry. 

“Building on our existing partnership with AstraZeneca, notably to expand access to HRD testing, we are incredibly excited to deepen our collaboration to multimodal approaches that will further enable their precision oncology capabilities.” 

In addition, the company introduced its real-world DEEP-Lung-IV study by using its multimodal machine learning-powered analytics capabilities to identify multimodal predictive response signatures to immunotherapy for advanced lung cancer patients. 

AstraZeneca Oncology Europe & Canada senior vice-president Greg Rossi said: “Multimodality aims to harness the power of advanced AI and machine learning models by integrating multiple data modalities to obtain key insights which inform prognosis and response to therapy at the individual patient level. 

“This approach is synergistic with AstraZeneca’s focus on developing personalised cancer treatment and has the potential to elevate precision oncology, currently driven by genomic-based biomarkers, into a truly multimodal connected health ecosystem.” 

Tech-enabled, next-generation contract research organisation (CRO) Vial has announced a partnership to integrate Egnyte’s Life Sciences electronic trial master file (eTMF) solution into its clinical trial platform. 

Egnyte eTMF minimises document processing times and maintains compliance while increasing audit readiness for life sciences companies. 

Vial Clinical Operations vice-president Joshua Ondatje said: “By integrating Egnyte’s eTMF, Vial will be able to offer our clients the gold standard in eTMF management, compliance, and audit readiness. We’re thrilled to be able to constantly increase the bar in clinical trial technology.” 

Leveraging Egnyte’s solution, clinical development professionals will be able to create an eTMF for managing several documents that are gathered through a trial. 

Additionally, the professionals can ensure proper storage and management of these documents. 

Vial will integrate the automation features of the solution into its end-to-end clinical trial technology stack and can offer automated document upload, review, approval, and storage. 

With the help of the eTMF solution, clinical development professionals can simply manage, review, and stay on track with milestones and expedite TMF creation. 

The eTMF solution meets GxP and FDA 21 CFR Part 11 requirements and helps the professionals stay audit-ready while maintaining compliance in a Cloud-based solution. 

Egnyte Life Sciences vice-president Ronen Vengosh said: “Egnyte’s eTMF solution is designed to meet the needs of the growing class of emerging and midsize biosciences companies. 

“By capitalising on the simplicity and ease of the Egnyte for Life Sciences platform, Vial will be able to alleviate the data management burdens associated with trial studies, so clinical teams can focus on their core mission, getting safe and effective treatments to market quickly.” 

In November last year, Vial added Next Oncology, a worldwide Phase I cancer research clinics network, to its Preferred Sit.