JERUSALEM -- Israeli researchers have developed scNET, an AI tool that analyzes how cells behave in changing biological environments, including their reactions to drug treatments, Tel Aviv University said Tuesday.

Unlike current sequencing technologies, whose pinpoint of key changes in gene activity in single cells, such as those in tumors, has been disturbed by data noise, scNET cuts through the noise to reveal hidden biological patterns by combining single-cell gene data with gene interaction networks, the university said in a statement.

In tests focused on immune T cells, which are crucial for fighting cancer, scNET detected how cancer treatments boosted the cells' ability to kill tumors, a subtle effect previously masked by data noise, it said.

The tool, described in the journal Nature Methods, could accelerate drug development and improve disease understanding, it noted.

The researchers highlighted how AI tools like scNET could help decode complex cell behaviors and design targeted therapies, it added.