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Trongenix, a leading
Scottish biotech specialist, has administered a dose of welcome relief
to a highly-uncertain digital era led by generative artificial
intelligence. In doing so the AI software researcher is attracting a
growing list of interested parties, including the US National Brain
Tumor Society.
Edinburgh Innovations, the university's commercialisation unit, has
singled out the spin-out's pre-clinical trials revealing how its
technology can kill glioblastoma cancerous cells but, and crucially,
leave nearby healthy cells untouched, in a way previous therapies have
not managed.
Again, and equally crucial, also activating the body's immune system
against tumours. Currently, one-in-four survive such a life-threatening
predicament beyond one year.
Trogenix Synthetic Super-Enhancer (SSE) precision viral immunotherapy
tech - ODYSSEUS - uses a combination of gene control, machine learning,
gene therapy and precision targeting to attack the cancer cells and
stimulate the immune system.
Professor Steve Pollard of Edinburgh's Centre for Regenerative Medicine,
co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the company, says of the
cancer treatment software platform - by targeting cancer cell states
rather than types, "unprecedented sensitivity" can be achieved and in
the process avoiding toxicity.
4B10 Capital is co-founder and an investor, along with investments from
IQ Capital, Cancer Research Horizons, the aforementioned US National
Brain Tumor Society, AIN Ventures, and Old College Capital (OCC) the
University of Edinburgh's in-house venture investment fund.
Edinburgh Innovations CEO Dr Andrea Taylor says that as it emerges from
stealth mode: "The technology they have developed has the potential to
be truly world changing."
AI Arms Race
Unfortunately, such welcome breakthroughs come as genAI threatens to
disrupt Scotland's centuries-old reputation for globally renowned
innovations. The list is endless - for example, just go to the "ts" for
telephone and television. However, in this Internet Age it has kind of,
well, all got different.
What's become labelled as "exploitative AI" is on an exponential rise,
especially when it comes to handling (or rather being handled by?)
generative artificial intelligence.
It is clear we all must double-down to protect ourselves and precious
data when considering what is Big Tech's Big Ticket Item and labelled a
"global AI arms race" as seductive marketing campaigns continue
endlessly to tap into our everyday lives.
AI, when used for weaponised and illegal ends, can deceive, defraud and
endanger each and everyone of us. Public and private bodies - a single
agency, organisation, even country - can ill afford to go it alone.
Average global cost is estimated to stand at almost £14 million a
MINUTE. Attacks rose by 30 per cent in the second quarter of 2024 with
no indication of a let up in the year ahead.
Entrepreneurially-minded businesses need to put in place extra digital
guardrails to protect their vital intellectual property rights (IPR).
It's no coincidence class actions against predominantly American Big
Techs are on the rise.
One involves Apple brought by consumer watchdog Which! over data
handling of 40 million iCloud subscribers, in what Computing describes
as a £3 billion lawsuit.
AI running at a "Million Miles a Minute"
A European Union anti-competition law ruling landed Meta with a mighty
€798 million (£664m) fine over what EU officials described as an
"unfair" Facebook marketplace.
B2B data aggregator DemandScience told ITPro 1000 million personal
records have been stolen probably by a third party.
MIT Technology Review reports the situation is compounded by the feeling
AI is moving "a million miles a minute" with weekly product launches,
fresh features and other so-called innovations.
It must be all about striking a balance. Between uncovering the value
and hidden opportunities of AI, and MIT's FutureTech folks point to a
newly-launched database and AI risk repository containing no less than
777 perceived AI risks and counting.
Significant numbers caused by human error, others through malicious
intent, the database creates a foundation for a more coordinated,
coherent and complete approach towards defining, auditing and managing
the risks caused by AI systems.
The sheer scale of change is mind-boggling. AI Journal reports online
generated global digital payment transactions, for example, are expected
to top £9.5 trillion ($12t) during 2025.
It all seems a million miles from a column I wrote for Hi-Tech Scotland
way, way back in 2007/8. On how Big Tech fostered the early online
concept of a "global village".
Digital hopes were sky high and everything appearing cosy and rosy on
the online front. Not now.
Bluesky on the Digital Horizon
What with all the sheer toxicity, misinformation and downright
aggression and outrage whenever one taps into social media outlets and
the like.
The sheer scale of such data creation activity on a typical day is
highlighted by Bernard Marr & Co.
Facebook handles one billion stories and 350 million photos daily;
Instagram 95 million photos and videos; LinkedIn two million posts,
articles and videos.
Every minute on TikTok 625 million videos are viewed, YouTube over four
million videos, Snapchat over half a million photos.
Emails account for 241 million globally whilst online shopping engages
six million people. Google processes more than 40,000 searches every
second - that's 3.5 billion searches per day.
And despite reports of increasing numbers quitting X, 456,000 tweets are
still sent every minute. Now newbe Bluesky appears to be making
significant inroads to the former Twitter site and there are high hopes
for the decentralised networking microblog offering from an American
benefit corporation.
It's estimated average time daily spent on social media was 143 minutes
in 2024 - actually down from 151 minutes the year before. Yes, a
reduction but giving little digital comfort to each and everyone of us.
A digital ray of hope lies crucially in the likes of medical and
surgical device innovations the Trogenix stand-out offering. Giving all
of us more than a wee bit of confidence genAI can deliver positive
health outcomes for the good of humanity. |
