Monday, 28 April 2025
Artificial intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept—it's already transforming scientific discovery, operational efficiency, and customer engagement. Ryan Snyder, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Thermo Fisher Scientific, discusses how the company is strategically investing in AI to unlock near-term value, enhance lab connectivity, and enable scientists to focus on insights, not inefficiencies. From advanced imaging in cell analysis to AI-driven clinical trial planning, Snyder explains how Thermo Fisher is helping customers accelerate innovation—while staying ahead in a rapidly evolving digital world.
( Disclaimer: This interview was originally published on the Thermo Fisher website. )
Q. How are major advancements in AI changing the way we work? How is Thermo Fisher thinking about the value AI can create now and over time?
A: AI is unlike any other disruptors we’ve seen since the wide adoption and evolution of the internet, and it’s already embedded in most of the tools and the applications we use daily, whether we realize it or not. We have quickly become accustomed to our email tool completing our sentences and our search engines summarizing answers.
AI is already requiring us to think, innovate and prioritize differently. Even in the short time since generative AI tools like ChatGPT burst onto the scene broadly, we’ve gone from using them for simple inquiries to interacting with them iteratively to help us think through problems, analyze information and build on our own expertise.
At our company, we are directing AI investment toward practical and specific applications of the technology to most effectively realize value in the near term—and to create a strong culture of innovation and market standing in the long term.
It will take time to see all the best use cases for AI, but it’s clear that given the time it takes to learn and apply these tools, those who are getting a head start will have a measurable leg up later.
Within Thermo Fisher, we see the value of AI in three primary areas – we can use it to enhance our products and services, create a better experience for our customers and help us work more efficiently across our company.
Q: Our customers are eager to understand how AI can accelerate their capabilities. How is Thermo Fisher thinking about enabling customers with AI in its products and services?
A: For several years, we have enabled our customers to accelerate their science and improve their productivity through cutting-edge technologies.
Our digital product footprint is growing; Thermo Fisher Connect Enterprise platform brings orchestration and connectivity across lab ecosystems, and embedded AI/ML in our products –including cell analysis, electron microscopy, mass spectrometry and proteomics offerings – can highlight significant data segments, enhance imaging and analysis, increase precision and accuracy of results and replace manual steps.
For example, AI capabilities in our Invitrogen™ Countess™ 3 Cell Counters clarify imagery, reducing guesswork and error for scientists analyzing the health of cells for a variety of applications, including cell therapy and molecular biology.
We have several software products that leverage AI to help customers analyze the large volume of data generated by our electron microscopy and mass spectrometry instruments, freeing them up to focus on more complex tasks.
In our clinical research space, AI capabilities are already accelerating processes and driving operational efficiency for our clinical services customers. Our software, when paired with machine learning models, can provide key insights that help with clinical trial planning and management, including identifying optimal sites and more accurately forecasting enrollment milestones.
At the end of the day, our customers are looking to us to help with four core needs. How can we help them:
We know that embedding AI/ML capabilities within our products and services enables us to stay at the leading edge of serving science, and we are working closely with our customers to best understand where that AI will be most beneficial for them.
Q: In terms of improving experience, how are you thinking about AI within the digital touchpoints Thermo Fisher has with its customers?
A: Improving the customer experience is a constant goal and a bar we continue to raise. Our customers will be able to do business with us more seamlessly through AI-enabled eCommerce and support. We’re also building connectivity within the company to provide an optimized experience for our customers no matter what they are hoping to buy or learn.
Improving the customer experience also includes how we enable our customer-facing colleagues who interact with customers, ensuring they have AI-driven personalized marketing content to support more relevant conversations with their customers. And our support teams are also able to drive faster and more accurate resolution of customer inquiries with our AI tools.
Q: As its leader, what is the role of IT in enabling AI at Thermo Fisher?
A: As an IT organization, our goal is to help provide foundational support while encouraging the broader organization to build and explore responsibly.
One of the greatest challenges and unique opportunities we have is providing a partnership with our businesses that best allows the broader company to leverage its breadth and depth.
Our digital touchpoints—which provide access to products and services across many market segments—provide chances to show up as Thermo Fisher, a single trusted partner with a single, profoundly impactful mission.
Finding ways to connect our products and services to provide our customers with an integrated, informed and thoughtful experience will be imperative to meet consumer expectations around ecommerce and will help our customers continue to forge meaningful relationships with a trusted brand.
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