Researchers Develop World’s First AI-Augmented Ova and Parasite Detection Tool
ARUP Laboratories (Salt Lake City, UT, USA), a
national reference laboratory engaged in innovative laboratory research and
development, and Techcyte (Lindon, UT, USA), a developer of artificial
intelligence (AI) based image analysis solutions for the diagnostics industry,
have developed the world’s first AI-augmented ova and parasite detection tool.
ARUP, a national clinical and anatomic pathology
reference laboratory, is a non-profit enterprise of the University of Utah and
offers an extensive test menu of highly complex and unique medical tests.
Techcyte, which was founded as a technology transfer from the University of
Utah, uses the power of deep machine learning to perform image analysis of
whole slide images. Techcyte’s digital diagnostics platform applies the latest
in convolutional neural networks to pre-classify the fecal sample images
captured by a 3DHISTECH Pannoramic 250-Flash III scanner. Pre-classifying the
images using the Techcyte tool allows ARUP’s technologists to efficiently read
stained glass slides manually and improves the accuracy of parasite detection.
For laboratorians, digitally enabling the workflow
will decrease the physical demands of looking through a microscope for extended
periods of time, including eye fatigue and neuromuscular tension. The
technology can quickly screen out negative results, allowing laboratorians to
spend more time analyzing positive slides. The ova and parasite tool is the
first among several projects being co-developed by ARUP and Techcyte. ARUP’s
medical expertise and access to samples, combined with Techcyte’s technical
ability and digital evaluation platform, will produce high quality algorithms
that can be developed and applied to future unmet laboratory needs.
“The collaboration with Techcyte has produced an
AI-augmented detection tool that significantly advances our diagnostic
capabilities in our parasitology lab,” said Adam Barker, PhD, director of
Research and Development at ARUP. “This will allow for faster turnaround times,
decreased costs, employee satisfaction and improved patient care.”
“Microscopy-based diagnostic parasitology has
remained woefully static for decades. We have successfully developed a
pioneering breakthrough with this tool, the likes of which had previously been
unimaginable by classically trained microbiologists,” said Dr. Marc Couturier,
medical director of ARUP’s Parasitology labs.
“This revolutionary partnership will combine
ARUP’s vast expertise and reputation in the market with Techcyte’s AI-based
image analysis capabilities to change the way lab diagnostics are performed,”
said Ralph Yarro, CEO of Techcyte.
