At its core, TUMO Labs is a hub for innovation, experimentation, and ingenuity, bringing together projects and people who are ready to change the world. The Vivan Therapeutics x TUMO Labs project is the perfect example of how an international biotech startup, a highly-accomplished bioinformatics scientist, and TUMO Labs project-based learning students are using machine learning and working together to create a world in which cancer patients receive the personalized care they need.
Guiding the way is Dr. Nikolay Borisov, a highly esteemed professional in the field of bioinformatics. As the head of the Vivan Therapeutics x TUMO Labs Project, which aims to find personalized cancer treatment options through the use of machine learning, Dr. Borisov approaches the task of treating and managing cancer with logic, practicality, and an eagerness to find the best treatment for each individual in need. He echoes the sentiments of Dr. Hans Binder: “We must treat the individual and not the disease.”
Dr. Borisov is responsible for teaching his methods of flexible data trimming to the TUMO Labs x Vivan Therapeutics participants, who, by participating in this project, acquire hands-on practical knowledge in the field, all the while impacting the world in a very meaningful way. Specifically, this project involves combining machine learning methods with in vivo testing in flies, to improve the accuracy of predicting a treatment’s outcome on a patient, thus creating personalized cancer care for that individual.
Participants have already started integrating their basic Python and Machine Learning skills to build off the current research conducted by Vivan Therapeutics:
Typically cancer treatment personalization includes In vitro (in the lab) testing which doesn’t allow for correct predictions. To try to fix this, some companies use mice, but this process takes much too long and can be quite expensive. For this reason, Vivan Therapeutics uses flies that are artificially grown with cancer (fly avatars). These fly avatars are then tested with various medications to see which ones get better. However, this method is not foolproof and needs the aid of machine learning technology.
That’s where Dr. Borisov comes in.
Ten years ago, he started to work in bioinformatics research, then moved on to personalized medicine, when he determined that individualized treatment is not possible without applying different machine learning methods. He also concluded that machine learning should be applied with very serious caution. Dr. Borisov understood that without machine learning he couldn’t succeed – there is too little known about these treatments, and that was a scientific challenge for him.
“Well, I received two calls around the same time: One from Dr. Hans Binder from Germany (Chairman of the Armenian Bioinformatics Institute) and another from Dr. Lilit Nersesyan (Director of the Armenian Bioinformatics Institute). They both asked me to join them at the Vivan Lab in Armenia, to contribute to their work in personalized oncology through the application of my methods of flexible data trimming, which I developed in my lab in order to try it as an industrial technology – it had previously only been academic. I then relocated to Yerevan in September of 2023 to form a new lab at the Armenian Bioinformatics Institute.”
They then decided to further their project with TUMO Labs students through our project-based learning program. They chose TUMO Labs since it is at the forefront of technological innovation in Armenia and separate from governmental institutions.
“We are working to use machine learning to personalize drug treatment. We test using fly avatars, but this is not so accurate so we need machine learning to fill in the gaps. This is only the first year that machine learning has been applied in the anticancer industry and personalized medicine in oncology. Our project at TUMO Labs is to work with and train participants who specialize in applied mathematics, computer science, software engineering, and so on, and who are already aware of the basics of Python and machine learning.”
Two new participants have just joined the TUMO Labs x Vivan Therapeutics project to continue working and learning from Dr. Borisov. We are honored to provide these profound professional growth opportunities for young individuals in Armenia, all the while being a hub for innovation in the engineering and tech spheres.
Dr. Borisov’s work with TUMO Labs and Vivan Therapeutics is groundbreaking in its originality, significance, and impact. We hope that this project paves the way for better treatment options for those who need them and we are so grateful to be a part of this process.
When he isn’t busy using his knowledge and passion to make the world a better place, Dr. Borisov enjoys reading, spending time with friends, traveling, eating fried chicken, and listening to a Soviet-era rocker, Yuri Shevchuk and the DDT group.
