In 2024, researchers found a new driver of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): it was a gene called ETS2 that is overactive in immune cells due to a DNA variant that predisposes people to the condition. This variant had previously confounded researchers because it lies in a 'gene desert' nowhere near protein-coding sequences. That discovery had involved gene-editing and other sophisticated molecular biology techniques and identified potential new IBD treatments. Now, researchers at Google DeepMind in London have replicated aspects of the finding using an AI model, and they have done this without lifting a pipette. Their model is called AlphaGenome 2. 'They've managed to figure out the answer in 30 minutes, and it took us a year and a half of experiments,' says James Lee, an immunologist and geneticist at the Francis Crick Institute in London who led the 2024 study. 'It's reassuring from our perspective.' The AlphaGenome 2 model, which was announced today, is an update to an AI tool...
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