Illumina Billion Cell Atlas: Foundation for AI Pharmacology

Illumina, a leader in DNA sequencing, together with partners (AstraZeneca, Merck), unveiled the "Billion Cell Atlas" initiative. The project, widely reported on January 14, 2026, aims to create the world's largest genetic perturbation dataset. The first phase includes data from 1 billion cells.

This release solves the main problem of AI Drug Discovery—the lack of high-quality training data. The Billion Cell Atlas will become the "gold standard" for training foundation biological models, allowing the prediction of cell responses to drugs in silico (in a computer) rather than in a test tube. This is a step toward reducing drug development timelines from years to months.

Source: Illumina