The program combines researchers within the field of image informatics, computer vision and digital microscopy.
The goal of this Grand Challenge is to achieve superhuman performance in tissue-based disease outcome prediction and fully automated digital diagnostics for major diseases, with the support of AI.
Characterization of biological samples for diagnostic purposes is undergoing a transition from an analog to a digital technology. Along with advancements in assay technologies, an increasing number of steps in the process can now be effectively enhanced and supported by machine learning and artificial intelligence. For example, within pathology, cancer research, and microbiology, an expert’s decisions can be supported with an array of readouts performed by computer vision algorithms. The paradigm shift from human expert-based interpretations to computerised readout has vast implications for both clinical medicine and biomedical research and poses a grand challenge for the research community and healthcare in general.
Novel technologies developed at FIMM have been transferred to a spinoff company Aiforia Technologies that commercializes software for image-based digital diagnostics. The expertise gained within this grand challenge is also offered as a service at the FIMM Technology Centre.