Cited by 20Scientific Computing and Data ManagementGenetics, Bioinformatics, and Biomedical ResearchGenomics and Phylogenetic Studies

BioAgents: Bridging the gap in bioinformatics analysis with multi-agent systems

Open access
Mehandru, Nikita, Hall, Amanda K., Melnichenko, Olesya, Dubinina, Yulia, Tsirulnikov, Daniel, Bamman, David, Alaa, Ahmed, Saponas, Scott +1 more·2025·Scientific Reports

Abstract

Developing end-to-end bioinformatics workflows is challenging, demanding deep expertise in both genomics and computational techniques. While large language models (LLMs) provide some assistance, they often lack the nuanced guidance required for complex bioinformatics tasks, and are resource-intensive. We thus propose a multi-agent system built on small language models, fine-tuned on bioinformatics data, and enhanced with retrieval augmented generation (RAG). Our system, BioAgents, enables local operation and personalization using proprietary data. We observe performance comparable to human experts on conceptual genomics tasks, and discuss future work to enhance code generation capabilities.

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  • BioAgents focuses on accessibility by leveraging small language models (SLMs) and retrieval-augmented generation to guide researchers through complex genomics tasks, even without extensive computational backgrounds.

    “the BioAgents system, which focuses on accessibility by leveraging small language models (SLMs) and retrieval-augmented generation to guide researchers through complex genomics tasks, even without extensive computational backgrounds [33]”

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Research works printed but not linked: 9

  1. [11]Sarwal, V., Munteanu, V., Suhodolschi, T., Ciorba, D., Eskin, E., Wang, W., & Mangul, S. Biollmbench: A comprehensive benchmarking of large language models in bioinformatics. bioRxiv 2023–12. (2023)
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Authors
Mehandru, N., Hall, A. K., Melnichenko, O., Dubinina, Y., Tsirulnikov, D., Bamman, D., Alaa, A., Saponas, S., & Malladi, V. S.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
  • Microsoft (United States) (US)
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
Corresponding author
Malladi, Venkat S.
Venue
Scientific Reports
Published
2025-11-07
Volume
15
Issue
1
Pages
39036-39036
ISSN
2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4415991135
Cited by
19
References
36
Citations by year
2026: 18 · 2025: 1
FWCI
18.85
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Scientific Computing and Data Management
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Biomedical Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
Keywords
multi-agent systems, bioinformatics pipeline, small language models, retrieval-augmented generation, genomics, local LLM deployment
MeSH terms
Humans, Software, Computational Biology, Genomics, Workflow

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