Amalga Life Sciences interface. (Click for larger version)

Microsoft is expanding its "Amalga" line of health-care software with a new product that aims to help scientists and doctors navigate available research -- quickly understanding, for example, how different treatments and diseases relate and interact with one another.

It's like GPS for life-sciences research, said Jim Karkanias, a senior director in Microsoft's Health Solutions Group, comparing it to the transition from manual map-reading to automated course-charting.

"Our platform helps to connect the dots among various pieces of data and talk about their relevance," Karkanias said. " 'Why is this gene making this protein relevant to this disease state and what should I do about it?' We can now, with the advent of the platform, produce those conclusions in minutes, where it would have taken months before to search for that."

Early users include Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Microsoft is basing the new Amalga Life Sciences on the Unified Medical Language System, a huge body of work that links research together, based on connections people have drawn. In future versions, the company plans to also apply natural-language processing techniques to make its own automated connections among different pieces of research.

Previous efforts to help people navigate this type of research have focused on specific areas, such as drug interactions, whereas Microsoft is taking a broader approach, Karkanias said. Third-party application developers will also be able to use Amalga Life Sciences as a platform for add-on programs.

The software, unveiled this morning, is part of a broader effort by Microsoft to expand into health care and life sciences. Existing offerings include Amalga digital information systems for hospitals and the Microsoft HealthVault medical records repository. Amalga Life Sciences will be offered to hospitals, research organizations and others as part of the broader Amalga system.