MixOmics Pro: making complex data simple
Modern biology generates vast amounts of data, but drawing meaningful insights from that data remains a major bottleneck for researchers. MixOmics Pro is changing that. Founded by Professor Kim-Anh Lê Cao, a computational biologist and statistician, the venture is building a user-friendly analytics platform that empowers scientists to unlock discoveries using powerful statistical methods, without needing to code.
The data gap in modern science
From gene expression and microbiome data to metabolomics and proteomics, modern biology generates numerous high-dimensional ‘omics’ datasets. These massive datasets can contain thousands of variables per sample, reflecting the complexity of biological systems. When analysed effectively, they can reveal important biomarkers, predict treatment responses, and uncover previously invisible disease patterns.
But for many researchers, especially those without a background in statistics or programming, extracting meaningful insights from this data is a daunting task.
“Scientists want to understand health, identify biomarkers or biological mechanisms underlying disease, but they often lack the technical expertise to analyse the patient data they’re producing,” says Kim-Anh.
This disconnect can slow down discovery and innovation across disciplines, from precision medicine to agriculture and environmental science. As the founder of MixOmics Pro, Kim-Anh aims to close that gap with a tool that is intuitive, fast, and requires no specialist expertise.
A seamless solution built on 20 years of impact
MixOmics Pro builds on the foundation of mixOmics, an open-source statistical software developed over the past two decades by Kim-Anh and her academic team. She is based at the School of Mathematics and Statistics in the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne. With more than 26,000 annual users worldwide, the open-access tool has become a go-to for omics researchers globally.
But this next step of commercialisation has been a long time coming. “I was already thinking about this 10 or 15 years ago,” she says. “I just didn’t know how to get there, or when I was ready.”
Through years of running workshops and supporting users, Kim-Anh saw a consistent barrier: “People were constantly saying they couldn’t use the tool because they didn’t know how to code. I realised if I wanted to make this accessible, I had to commercialise it.”
Kim-Anh Le Cao, MixOmics Pro Founder
Making complex analysis simple
MixOmics Pro enables researchers to visualise and interpret multi-omics data without writing a single line of code. The platform is built for impact in precision medicine, helping users identify biomarkers, personalise treatments and draw connections across large biological datasets.
But the tool’s potential goes far beyond human health. “We’re not tied to one discipline,” says Kim-Anh. “Our methods can unlock insights in medicine, agriculture, environmental science, even cosmetics. The vision is to make discovery accessible to anyone with omics data.”
From research leader to founder
Kim-Anh’s journey from research academic to entrepreneur has been filled with learning curves and a few Google searches.
“Everything you have to learn around entrepreneurship is like a new language,” she laughs. “I’m constantly Googling terms and thinking, ‘Why do people even put those words together?’”
Through TRAM Air, she’s found both support and a shift in mindset. “In academia, you usually get a grant and do what you said you would do. In a startup, it’s completely different. You have to test assumptions, adapt and get comfortable with uncertainty.”
But that discomfort hasn’t stopped her from moving forward. MixOmics Pro has already been shortlisted for the Eureka Prize in Research Software and is currently onboarding early users for its MVP.
What success looks like
Long term, Kim-Anh envisions MixOmics Pro as a core tool in labs across the world, empowering researchers to make breakthroughs without needing to understand the underlying mathematics or programming.
“Success to me is knowing MixOmics Pro is being used and really helping people,” she says. “If someone emails me one day and says, ‘This helped us develop a new treatment’, that would be the dream.”
With decades of statistical expertise, a global network of users and now a startup mindset behind her, Kim-Anh is closer than ever to making that dream a reality.
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Get in touch with Masha to learn more about TRAM Air: masha.pelipas@unimelb.edu.au