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Basecamp Research leverages Microsoft and NVIDIA AI for biodiversity research

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A groundbreaking initiative promises to revolutionize our understanding of biodiversity and its applications—and it’s powered by Microsoft and NVIDIA. Meet Basecamp Research.

The Basecamp Research team is on a mission to digitize nature, transforming biological material into data to unlock the secrets of the natural world. This ambitious project aims to bridge the gap between biotechnology and biodiversity, creating the world’s largest and fastest growing database of biological protein sequences, containing more than 9.8 billion new sequences and more than one million newly discovered species—expanding the known tree of life by more than tenfold compared to all public databases combined.

This scale is not just a scientific milestone—it’s a breakthrough that enables researchers to model evolution itself, providing a window into how life on Earth has adapted and diversified over billions of years.

When you look at a spoonful of soil, there could be as many living things in that spoonful of soil as there are humans on the planet.

—Marlon Clark, Collaboration and Innovation Lead, Basecamp Research

Basecamp Research is not just building a longer list of catalogued species, but creating a database of a completely different scale and complexity. This comprehensive dataset empowers advanced AI models to uncover the rules and mechanisms of evolution, identify novel proteins and pathways, and design new biological solutions for challenges in medicine, sustainability, and beyond.  

Evolution is the most powerful force in biology, and by understanding how nature uses it to solve problems, we can’t underestimate the impact this will have on advances in biology.

—John Finn, Chief Scientific Officer, Basecamp Research

As part of the Microsoft for Startups and NVIDIA Inception program, Basecamp Research has the tools and resources needed to unlock the secrets of biodiversity and drive innovation in biotechnology. By combining Azure’s scalable cloud foundation with NVIDIA’s full-stack AI innovation, Basecamp Research is paving the way for a new era of biological discovery and inspiring others to explore the incredible potential of nature. Microsoft and NVIDIA power Basecamp Research’s AI models to process and analyze data at increased speeds, further accelerating their research and enabling them to tackle complex biological challenges.

The startup ’s focus is on converting biological material into data through DNA sequencing, a process that reveals the intricate details of the organisms that inhabit our planet. This data is then used to build a comprehensive database of more than 10 billion novel protein sequences that not only catalogs the diversity of life but also is training a new family of foundation models, leveraging insights into how these organisms function and interact with their environment—laying the foundation to inspire new innovations in biotechnology.

We’re not just using our database to start identifying novel proteins we can use. But we’re using the AI models we’re building actually to help us start evolving those proteins to have the features we want without doing millions of variants.

—John Finn, Chief Scientific Officer, Basecamp Research

Microsoft and NVIDIA: Powering the next leap in biological discovery  

Basecamp Research’s mission is powered by a unique combination of Microsoft Azure and the full stack NVIDIA AI platform. Together, these technologies provide the scalable infrastructure, advanced AI tools, and accelerated computing needed to process and analyze the world’s largest and most diverse biological dataset.  

By leveraging the power of Azure’s cloud services, Basecamp Research can process and analyze vast amounts of biological data efficiently and effectively. The scalability and flexibility of Azure allow the team to handle the massive datasets generated from DNA sequencing and other biological analyses.

One of the key advantages of Azure is its ability to support high-performance computing (HPC) workloads accelerated by NVIDIA. This is crucial for Basecamp Research, as their work involves complex computational tasks that require significant processing power. Azure’s HPC capabilities enable the team to run large-scale simulations and analyses, accelerating their research and discovery processes.

Additionally,  AI and machine learning tools from Azure and NVIDIA are instrumental in helping Basecamp Research derive meaningful insights from their data. By leveraging Azure Machine Learning and NVIDIA BioNeMo framework, the team can build, train, and deploy sophisticated AI models that can predict and identify patterns in biological data. This allows them to uncover new biological insights and develop innovative solutions inspired by nature.

Making learnings accessible

The Basecamp Research team is also committed to ensuring that the benefits of their work are shared with the communities they collaborate with. They enhance local capacity by building labs, sharing data, and training scientists, and they pass revenue back to these communities when their data leads to commercial success.

From the work they do, to the technology they choose, the Basecamp Research project is a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation. By breaking through the “data wall” that has limited progress in the life sciences, Basecamp’s database empowers generative biology—using AI to design, generate, and annotate proteins, pathways, and therapeutics with a level of accuracy and creativity that was previously impossible 

At its heart, Basecamp Research as a company is built on this idea that biology has the answers and the process of evolution has led to this really, truly remarkable complex system that shouldn’t work and yet, and yet it does. Fundamentally, we’re so reliant on biodiversity and being able to study it and understand it is one of the most important things that you can do.

—Phoebe Oldach, Vice President Data Growth, Basecamp Research

To delve deeper into this fascinating journey and witness the groundbreaking work of the Basecamp Research team, watch the full-length video. For other intriguing applications of Microsoft and NVIDIA technology, follow the Catalyst series.





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Researchers make AI-powered tool to detect plant diseases

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A team of researchers at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-based tool capable of detecting diseases and nutrient deficiencies in bitter gourd leaves, potentially transforming the way farmers monitor crop health.

The study, recently published in the peer-reviewed journal ‘Current Plant Biology’ (Elsevier), highlights how AI-driven innovations can play a crucial role in real-time crop monitoring and precision farming.

The newly developed web-based application, named ‘AgriCure’, is powered by a layered augmentation-enhanced deep learning model. It allows farmers to diagnose crop health by simply uploading or capturing a photograph of a leaf using a smartphone.

“Unlike traditional methods, which are time-consuming and often require expert intervention, AgriCure instantly analyses the image to determine whether the plant is suffering from a disease or nutrient deficiency, and then offers corrective suggestions,” explained the researchers.

The collaborative research project was led by Dr Kamaldeep Joshi, Dr Rainu Nandal and Dr Yogesh Kumar, along with students Sumit Kumar and Varun Kumar from MDU’s University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET). It also involved Prof Narendra Tuteja from the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi and Prof Ritu Gill and Prof Sarvajeet Singh Gill from MDU’s Centre for Biotechnology.

MDU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Rajbir Singh, congratulated the research team on their achievement.

According to the researchers, AgriCure can detect major diseases such as downy mildew, leaf spot, and jassid infestation, as well as key nutrient deficiencies like nitrogen, potassium and magnesium.

“This represents a step towards sustainable agriculture, where AI empowers farmers with real-time decision-making tools,” said corresponding authors Prof Ritu Gill and Prof Sarvajeet Singh Gill. They added that the web-based platform can be integrated with mobile devices for direct use in the field.

The team believes that the technology’s core framework can be extended to other crops such as cereals, legumes, and fruits, creating opportunities for wider applications across Indian agriculture.

Looking ahead, they plan to integrate AgriCure with drones and Internet of Things (IoT) devices for large-scale monitoring, and to develop lighter versions of the model for full offline use on mobile phones.





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Competition to introduce artificial intelligence (AI) is fierce not only in industrial areas but als..

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Competition to introduce AI to the diplomatic front lines of major countries The U.S. actively utilizes the State Department’s exclusive “State Chat” to brainstorm foreign policy. Canada uses it to analyze major countries’ policies

[Photo = Yonhap News]

Competition to introduce artificial intelligence (AI) is fierce not only in industrial areas but also in diplomacy, which is the front line of competition between countries. The U.S. State Department is increasing the work efficiency of diplomats through its own AI. Japan spends more than 600 billion won a year to detect false information. The move is aimed at preventing the possibility that fake information will be misused to establish national diplomatic strategies.

In the United States, the State Department has been operating its own AI ‘State Chat’ since last year. It is an interactive AI in the form of ‘Chat GPT’, similar to the method promoted by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It provides functions such as summarizing internal business documents and professional analysis. E-mails used by diplomats are also drafted according to the format and even have the function of helping “brainstorming” in relation to foreign policy or strategy.

StateChat is dramatically reducing the amount of time State Department employees spend on mechanical tasks. According to State Department estimates, the total amount of time saved by all employees through their own AI amounts to 20,000 to 30,000 hours per week.

The State Department plans to continue expanding the use of StateChat. State Chat is also used for job training. This is due to the advantage of minimizing information that may be omitted during the handover process and enabling in-depth learning by providing data containing stories. State Chat will also be used to manage manpower. Information related to personnel management is also entered in State Chat.

[Photo = Yonhap News]
[Photo = Yonhap News]

Japan has been building a situation analysis system using AI since 2022. AI finally judges the situation by combining reports from local diplomats with external information such as foreign social network service (SNS) posts, reports from research institutes, and media reports. For example, if social media analysis detects residents’ disturbance in a specific area, AI warns of the risk of terrorism or riots.

From 2023, it is using AI to detect fake news that is mainly spread through SNS. It analyzes not only text but also various media types of content such as images, audio, and video. It is a method of measuring the consistency of information based on a large language model (LLM) and then determining whether it is false. In particular, Japan calculates and presents the social impact, such as the scale and influence of the fake news.

Japan believes that numerous fake news after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident has undermined national trust and caused unnecessary diplomatic friction. Japan allocated about 66.2 billion yen (626.5 billion won) in the fiscal 2025 budget to the policy and technology sectors to respond to false information.

Canada introduced a ‘briefing note’ using Generative AI in 2022. A draft policy briefing document is created by analyzing and reviewing policy-related data of major countries. Finland operates a system that collects diplomatic documents through AI and summarizes them on its own, and even visualization functions are provided. The UK has introduced AI to consular services. Classify the services frequently requested by their citizens staying abroad to overseas missions and provide optimal answers.

Last year, France developed an AI tool that summarizes and analyzes diplomatic documents and external data and is using it to detect ‘reverse information (fake news or false information)’ overseas and to identify public opinion trends. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has introduced an unmanned overseas mission model that provides consular services based on AI.



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How artificial intelligence is transforming hospitals

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Story highlights

AI is changing healthcare. From faster X-ray reports to early warnings for sepsis, new tools are helping doctors diagnose quicker and more accurately. What the future holds for ethical and safe use of AI in hospitals is worth watching. Know more below.



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