Using artificial intelligence and medical image computing to revolutionise differential diagnosis of dementias by automating neuropathology

Project ID: 2228cd1313 (You will need this ID for your application)

UCL Lead department: Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering

Project Summary:

Neuropathologists carefully examine brain tissue to help diagnose diseases and understand the underlying causes of these conditions. To do this, they carefully cut the tissue into thin slices and use special dyes and microscopes to study the cells and proteins in the tissue. While these techniques provide a diagnosis, they can be time-consuming and require a lot of manual work and many years of training to interpret the images and can often generate conflicting diagnosis between experts. By automating the diagnostic processes with advanced imaging techniques, neuropathologists may be able to quickly and accurately analyse tissue samples and provide the correct diagnosis for the different neurodegenerative diseases. This could ultimately translate to patients being given the correct diagnosis during life and placed into the correct treatment trials when available.

An AI-powered analysis toolbox for neuropathological data will revolutionise the way we study the brain and diagnose neurological disorders. With its ability to quickly and accurately analyse large amounts of data, this AI-based tool will dramatically increase the throughput and reliability of imaging readouts, providing neuropathologists with a powerful new tool to unlock the disease specific signatures of the brain. By measuring the amount and location of disease-related proteins, this tool will enable us to derive novel biomarkers that can provide valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms of neurological disorders.

This is an opportunity to be at the forefront of a new project that combines the expertise of neuropathologists, machine learning experts, and medical imaging specialists. You will have the chance to innovate upon cutting-edge deep learning techniques to build an AI-powered neuropathology tool that has the potential to transform the way we study the brain and diagnose neurological disorders.