Issue 05 | Signal Magazine

Signal Magazine’s focus on Microsoft Research and Project Ex Vivo centers on a new approach to cancer modeling that moves beyond mutation-only explanations. Ava Amini, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, co-leads the collaboration between Microsoft and the MIT-Harvard biomedical research center, the Broad Institute, and support from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The project’s premise challenges precision medicine’s traditional focus on specific genetic mutations, arguing that cancer is a dynamic system shaped not only by DNA changes but also by how cancer cells behave and interact with their environment. Amini describes the shift as moving from binary “on/off” mutation measurements toward more continuous, data-rich observations. Using AI and machine learning, the effort aims to learn patterns at high scale from these expanded measurements. The article notes that testing thousands of drug options directly in patients is impractical, which is why researchers rely on lab models and study cells outside the body—hence the project name, Ex Vivo. It recounts how the initiative began as a small concept and grew into a broader, multidisciplinary effort.