A team led by Dr. Kuan-lin Huang, PhD, has been named a winner of the $1 million Alzheimer’s Insights AI Prize, the Alzheimer’s Disease Data Initiative announced on March 20. Dr. Huang is an Associate Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
The award recognizes the development of Biomni-AD, an advanced artificial intelligence-powered “co-scientist” that aims to reduce the time needed to generate scientific insights from complex biomedical data.
The Mount Sinai team worked with partners at Stanford University on this project. The competition was initially set as a single $1 million award but expanded to two winners, doubling the total prize money to $2 million due to what organizers described as exceptional submissions and urgency in advancing new approaches for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
“Receiving this prize validates that AI can contribute to Alzheimer’s research right now, not someday,” said Dr. Huang. “It gives us the resources and visibility to deploy Biomni-AD broadly so researchers around the world can move from data to insight in minutes rather than months. That is what we have been working toward.”
Alzheimer’s disease is projected to affect more than 150 million people globally by 2050. Although large datasets exist across genomics, imaging, proteomics, and clinical research fields, much information remains fragmented and difficult for researchers to integrate effectively. Biomni-AD was created specifically to address these challenges.
According to investigators involved in early testing, Biomni-AD has already identified significant biological signals and helped prioritize promising drug targets faster than conventional methods.
“Mount Sinai has been a leader in Alzheimer’s genomics and data-driven discovery for decades. Biomni-AD builds on the intersection of these approaches and expertise,” said Alison Goate, DPhil, Director of The Ronald M. Loeb Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Chair of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at Icahn School of Medicine. “Biomni-AD represents a meaningful advance in how science can be conducted, enabling scientists to ask more ambitious questions and pursue discoveries that were previously out of reach.”
The winning solution will be made freely available through AD Data Initiative’s AD Workbench platform so researchers worldwide can access advanced analytics tools.
“Every month saved in the research pipeline matters for patients and families. If Biomni-AD can help move even one promising lead to clinical testing faster, that is meaningful,” said Dr. Huang.
Looking ahead, Mount Sinai plans global deployment of Biomni-AD along with collaborative initiatives such as launching an ADA Consortium intended for broader collaboration among researchers.
