Revolutionizing the field of gene therapy through the power of AI

ShapeTX is pioneering the field of programmable RNA medicines to repair the genetic causes of diseases. By combining AI and RNA technology to generate and analyze hundreds of billions of therapeutic possibilities, the innovative biotechnology company is developing breakthroughs in RNA editing, next-generation AAVs, and disruptive gene therapy manufacturing. 

ShapeTX harnesses the power of cutting-edge technology to develop programmable RNA

With Benchling as a central source of truth for R&D data, ShapeTX is developing innovative RNA-targeting technologies and advanced genetic medicines. When ShapeTX first began its journey with Benchling, several key business goals were top of mind. First, to improve their capacity to create therapies at scale, leaders aimed to develop processes with strong data traceability. By ensuring results are linked to their samples, the platform enables faster, accurate, and scalable business decisions. 

ShapeTX also sought to capture IP efficiently and eliminate data silos by creating a central source of truth.  Establishing standardized experimental data capture, provenance, and lineage were key priorities for the R&D organization.

Paving the way for AI-ready data & AI-enabled scientists 

In 2021, ShapeTX implemented Benchling with a phased approach that first began with the Notebook application. The impetus for Benchling grew from the need to standardize data management across ShapeTX teams and bridge the gap between the wet and dry labs. Head of AI, Ron Hause, shared in a recent panel with Benchling Co-founder and President, Ashu Singhal, about several of the priorities for internal transformation. “While it has become relatively straightforward to implement large language models, the differentiator between companies is having enough good [experimental] data to train them,” Hause expressed. 

To pursue a higher quality level of data, ShapeTX needed a solution that would allow experimentalists to track biological samples and reagents, associate them with experimental results, while providing context for the relationships between them. The ability to track sample locations and quantities also posed challenges for the team. 

Driving innovation through automation, improved data traceability, and last mile capabilities 

Benchling has become ShapeTX’s workhorse R&D informatics platform, centralizing experimental context and data capture. Hause shared that the platform has made the day-to-day life of scientists at ShapeTX exponentially easier by serving as a central hub where they can interface with results generated from internally built bioinformatics pipelines. “Having automated pipelines that can take data off of lab instruments, process it, and serve it up in their ELN in Benchling; we’ve seen that really improve things.” 

ShapeTX also automated data capture from Tetrascience and other sources through out-of-the-box integrations with Benchling — which accelerates experiments by cutting manual work.

ShapeTX has experienced a 270% increase in use of pre-configured templates for data entries. Automating the complex analysis of the wet lab, and making data AI-ready and available for the dry lab use, has resulted in tremendous value for ShapeTX. By developing a strong foundation on Benchling, ShapeTX is well positioned to use data to predict scientific breakthroughs and use AI.

“Having all of this automated behind the scenes, and integrating with our own training data sets, expedites our experimentalists' lives. They don’t need to think about managing data; they get to see it in their lab notebook in Benchling, and are able to more readily make interpretations.” - Ron Hause, Senior Vice President, Head of AI, Shape Therapeutics