Post by Natalie Watt

🧬 Just wrapped up an incredible internship at BGI Genomics with a renewed excitement for the future of biotechnology and genomics! I gained invaluable experience on both the scientific and commercial sides of the industry: 🧪 Rotated through the clinical lab, gaining hands-on experience in sample processing, DNA extraction, sequencing, and BGI’s own DNBseq™ technology for applications like NIPT. 📈 Joined the marketing team to conduct market research, engage in client meetings and contribute to strategic discussions for AI health devices and personalised medicine. A key takeaway was seeing how AI is shifting In-Vitro Diagnostics (IVDs) and personalised healthcare from detection to prediction. BGI's cutting-edge technologies, such as their OncoReveal™ liquid biopsy platform and COLOTECT™ test, are based on the principles that enable the monitoring of minimal residual disease (MRD) and cancer recurrence. We're now moving beyond just finding cancer to forecasting its behaviour and preventing recurrence. The next frontier is even more transformative. Imagine an AI that can analyse a liquid biopsy and not only find cancer DNA but predict how it will behave, personalising treatment from the start, or a model that can spot subtle, early RNA signatures of Alzheimer's years in advance, opening a crucial window for intervention. This powerful shift in AI is enabling us to treat illness and to manage health proactively, with deeply personalised insights👩‍💻 By integrating multi-omics data, AI can turn complex biomarker signatures into actionable insights. This shift is moving healthcare from reactive treatment to continuous, preemptive health management: enabling earlier cancer detection, predicting disease evolution, and tailoring lifestyle and treatment plans to the individual. This internship enabled me to bridge the gap between technical science and real-world application, providing a deeper understanding of how biotech innovation is commercialised in global health. I want to thank Dr. Xing LIU, Ph.D. for the supervision and the entire BGI team for their guidance and trust ☺️ I’m excited to apply these insights to my final year at Imperial College London, and to continue exploring the expanding areas of biotech and health innovation 🤩 #BGI #OmicsforAll #Biotechnology #Internship #AI #PersonalisedMedicine #IVD #Cancer #Alzheimers