As the pharmaceutical industry embraces data-driven CMC submissions, AstraZeneca pioneers collaboration between science and IT. Recognizing the pivotal role of data, the industry lacks standardized practices for generating FAIR at source data. Regulatory authorities are increasingly adopting in silico modeling and machine learning for evaluations, paving the way for faster drug approvals and improved patient access. This talk provides an illustrative example of AstraZeneca’s integrated FAIR Data Hub, which automates data practices for advanced analytics and regulatory compliance. This partnership between science and technology addresses industry challenges of data complexity while expediting processes to enhance patient access to new medicines.

Long-term data management is best executed when policies are clear and infrastructure is abstracted and swappable. iRODS has a desire to be normal and boring for the administrator and approachable and powerful for the user. This talk will cover recent advances and interfaces which allow companies to sustain FAIR data practices, enforce consistency and reproducibility, and realize cost-savings through open-source software.

Discover the immediate benefits of implementing a NextGen ELN, including unlocking valuable legacy ELN data and enhancing research capabilities. This talk will explore AstraZeneca's large-scale deployment to over 3,500 scientists, sharing best practices and lessons learned. Attendees will gain insights into how NextGen ELN integration accelerates decision-making by connecting research communities and creating data products that drive scientific innovation and discovery.

As Sanofi strives to become the first biopharma company powered by AI at scale, data is essential to realizing this vision. The data capabilities being developed are critical for implementing AI and GenAI solutions, providing actionable insights to decision-makers across various organizational levels, and driving transformative advancements in life sciences. Join me to explore best practices, strategies, and real-world use cases that navigate data management complexities, foster collaboration, and unlock value from data assets.

FAIRifying discovery data is a highly complex and very time-consuming endeavor posing significant challenges across pharma. We have developed the OligoLake to integrate multimodal data from oligonucleotide discovery projects utilizing various existing pRED systems for compound and project registration, in vitro assays, in vivo studies, in silico predictions, and high-dimensional omics. We employed a minimalistic approach combining efficient cloud storage (AWS S3), transparent data modeling and documentation (DBT), easy-to-maintain orchestration (GitLab CI), and a light-weight database solution (DuckDB) offering both Python and R packages as well as a GUI for easy and user-friendly interaction with the harmonized data. As a result, within several weeks we were able to successfully develop an MVP which proved reusable and scalable for other data products at pRED.

Staying ahead of a constantly changing landscape of scientific process and experimentation is a challenge for any ELN/LIMS engineer. This is compounded by the increasing demand for the integration of LIMS data with downstream data systems. Learn how to stay ahead of change by applying best practices from Data Engineering and software CI/CD to your LIMS system. This talk walks you through the practical steps to achieve a single source of truth for schema configurations synchronized across multiple LIMS tenants. We will explore the decisions we made to develop a clear change management process and tooling landscape that ensures timely and accurate access to laboratory data integrated across the company’s data platform.

Since 2003, Bio-IT World has hosted an elite awards program with the goal of highlighting outstanding examples of how technology innovations and strategic initiatives are being applied to advance life sciences research. Winners of the 2025 Bio-IT World Innovative Practices Awards, recognized during the morning plenary keynote session, will give podium presentations during this session. For more details about the Awards and to submit an application, visit www.bioitworldexpo.com/innovativepractices.

As the world's largest publicly available repository of raw sequence data, the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) plays a pivotal role in advancing public health and life sciences research. This presentation highlights state-of-the-art tools and strategies for managing and analyzing the SRA’s massive datasets, showcasing its impact on infectious disease surveillance, genomic epidemiology, and precision medicine. Discover how innovative informatics solutions are transforming raw data into actionable insights for global health challenges.

With AI taking center stage in coding, research teams are leveraging AI-enabled IDEs to refactor legacy systems into modern, efficient languages. This talk presents a balanced view of generative AI-supported coding, cutting through the hype to focus on real-world applications. Discover practical strategies and examples of how AI is transforming outdated research systems into scalable, maintainable, and future-ready platforms for life sciences.

Since 2010, “Trends from the Trenches” has been a cornerstone of the Bio-IT program, delivering candid and occasionally blunt assessments of the most impactful and overhyped IT technologies in life sciences. This talk will provide a deep dive into computing, storage, cloud, data science, machine learning, and more, with a focus on supporting data-intensive science. Looking ahead, this talk will share forward-thinking predictions about emerging technologies and trends poised to shape the future of life sciences innovation, offering actionable insights for navigating the next wave of IT evolution.