Deep Neural Networks in image processing, predictive modelling and diagnostic decisions

Posted 2nd September 2020 by Liv Sewell

Now more than ever intelligent human beings are needed to fulfil high value and high complexity tasks and histopathology is no exception. In fact, it is one of the sectors in the most desperate need. 

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How deep learning is transforming medical imaging: image search

Posted 29th July 2020 by Liv Sewell

Five or six years ago, I was looking for a strategic direction for the KIMIA Lab. We started with the problems. We asked, ‘What problems do we have in medical imaging?’ 

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Colorectal cancer discovery raises hope for microbiome treatment

Posted 22nd July 2020 by Joshua Sewell

This article is republished with kind permission from BioVox.

A new mechanism causing colorectal cancer has been discovered by researchers from VIB and Ghent University.

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What AI Can and Can’t Do for Digital Pathology Right Now

Posted 15th July 2020 by Liv Sewell

It was fascinating to speak with Hamid Tizhoosh, Professor at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Canada, Director of KIMIA Lab and keynote speaker at the 6th Digital Pathology & AI Congress: USA, about using AI to transform what is possible in medical imaging.

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How to translate biomarker discoveries into clinical applications

Posted 8th July 2020 by Joshua Sewell

Extracellular vesicles provide an exciting opportunity as a modality for non-invasive biomarkers, which may enable them to be used as biomarkers for tumour metastasis.  

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PROTAC drug discovery – prior preparation and planning

Posted 1st July 2020 by Liv Sewell

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” so said Benjamin Franklin, and as a veteran of early stage drug discovery you can bet that I, like you, have seen my fair share of successes but also more failures than I’d like.  

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ctDNA and AI are the way forward in early cancer detection and metastatic treatment

Posted 24th June 2020 by Joshua Sewell

We spoke with Dr David Guttery about his pioneering work using circulating tumour DNA to enable early detection, monitoring and therapeutic decision making for better patient outcomes in gynaecological cancers.

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Digital pathology: From over-promising to a reality check

Posted 17th June 2020 by Liv Sewell

Almost five years ago, the plan to implement a wide-ranging digital pathology approach across the Netherlands began to take shape. As more labs across the country acquire digital pathology capability, with steps to create a strong and accessible image repository and a national image exchange platform, one of the project leaders, Professor Katrien Grünberg, offered an update and spoke of some challenges that still lie ahead.

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From Consortia to Recombinants: opportunities and challenges facing the next generation of microbials

Posted 24th August 2020 by Liv Sewell

In this blog post I will discuss two themes that I see driving the next generation of live microbe biologicals for agriculture. These are the rational design and delivery of pairs or consortia (which I will define as more than two microbes) and the commercialization of engineered strains.

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What does international collaboration mean for you?

Posted 27th May 2020 by Liv Sewell

The present COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated the vital need for knowledge sharing across the global science community. We asked three of our speakers what international collaboration means for them as leaders in their fields.

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The Biosynthesis of Cannabinoids

Posted 6th May 2020 by Joshua Sewell

We recently spoke to Jeremy Friedberg, CSO of  LAVVAN, a company pioneering the biosynthesis of cannabinoids. The conversation was recorded as a podcast, which can be found here.

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The grass has never been greener for engineering plant immunity and resilience

Posted 18th March 2020 by Liv Sewell

Scientific research is always working at the frontiers of knowledge, but plant genomics technologies have had a dramatic impact on plant science even by our standards. The wide availability of sequencing technologies has been a rare step-change that has unlocked knowledge in a way nobody in the field could have imagined twenty years ago. Knowledge which could make a considerable contribution to food security in the face of changing climates.

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New Breeding Techniques: cloning major resistance genes in cereals

Posted 13th March 2020 by Liv Sewell

Advances in breeding techniques for cereal crops will be a focus at the 8^th Plant Genomics and Gene Editing Congress: USA. We asked Burleigh Dodds, an agricultural science publisher, to share an extract from one of their recent publications, ‘Advances in breeding techniques for cereal crops’.

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Plant biotech in Europe: Present and future

Posted 4th March 2020 by Liv Sewell

Marcel Kuntz is a panellist for the panel discussion on the regulatory landscape for plant biotechnology at the 8^th Plant Genomics & Gene Editing Congress: Europe. Here he provides us with some background for the discussion.

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Using genome editing technology within a systems biology approach to understand plant immunity

Posted 2nd March 2020 by Liv Sewell

Interested in systems biology, omics technology, and plant bioinformatics? Catch up with one of our speakers from the 8^th Plant Genomics and Gene Editing Congress: Europe, Professor Kristina Gruden…

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The case for biosynthesis: 5 problems with cannabinoids derived from plant cultivation

Posted 25th February 2020 by Joshua Sewell

As we look at the current and future market demands for cannabinoid ingredients, large consumer buyers are focused on purity, consistency and stability of supply. For a host of reasons, cannabinoid suppliers will find it extraordinarily difficult to meet this demand with plant-based production systems.

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Multiplex and high fidelity: the potential of qPCR

Posted 28th August 2020 by Joshua Sewell

Ahead of the qPCR & Digital PCR Congress, we sat down with David Zhang to talk about his work with PCR as a diagnostic platform.

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Examining Blockchain Systems & Designing Smart Contracts

Posted 13th August 2018 by Jane Williams

The blockchain has the potential to enable the collaboration between patients, researchers, and care providers to provide individualised care for patients, but how can this technology be harnessed in a practical way?

This was one of the key questions that was asked at the Blockchain in Healthcare Congress and we had the pleasure of welcoming an array of expert speakers from pharma, academia, and industry to provide the answer.

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The role of extrinsic motivation in sports and physical activity

Posted 20th June 2018 by Jane Williams

Motivation is one of the most significant psychological concepts in many areas of life – from work and education to achieving personal goals. In sports and physical activity, motivation plays an especially important part due to the fact that, to millions of people worldwide, staying fit and active is not an obligation or a professional prerequisite, but rather a personal goal. Blockchain technology, together with elements of gamification, may actually help people achieve this goal.

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Conciliating Blockchain and GDPR

Posted 8th June 2018 by Jane Williams

Aurélie Bayle is a Data Protection Officer at be-ys: a role she considers to be at the heart of the new legal framework for any company.

Before GDPR came into effect on 25^th May 2018, she was working towards global compliance, which involved completing all the steps given by the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, an advisory board made up of a representative from the data authority of each EU Member State, the European Data Protection Supervisor, and the European Commission. Her duties have included auditing the structures and processes, preparing the data protection impact assessments, checking the compliance of processing activities, analysing the risks of the processing in the medical area, preparing new processes and policies about data protection, and asking data processors about their own compliance.

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When Blockchain Meets the Right to be Forgotten: Technology Versus Law

Posted 2nd May 2018 by Jane Williams

Over the past few years, the popularity of the blockchain and cryptocurrencies has increased and has reached important notoriety, not only in scientific and IT journals, but also in the media. Although there are many kinds of cryptocurrencies in circulation nowadays, the most popular is Bitcoin.

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Supporting Blockchain Startups: An Open Letter from Katherine Merton

Posted 27th April 2018 by Jane Williams

Dear colleagues,

The blockchain technology market is expected to grow to 2.3 billion US dollars by 2021, from 339.5 million US dollars in 2017. [1] With an annual growth rate of 61.5%, it is one of the fastest growing technologies in the healthcare industry.

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The Big List of Microfluidics Companies & Investors

Posted 25th April 2018 by Jane Williams

The microfluidic-based devices market has been growing since 2014 due to the increasing point of care testing demand and the miniaturisation of microfluidic chips. 

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What will we do with all this data?

Posted 16th April 2018 by Jane Williams

The amount of data we are creating every day has increased exponentially to match the rise in use of smart and connected devices. The internet of things has connected every aspect of our lives to the digital realm: most of these devices operate by tracking your habits, movements, preferences, voice, and more, then logging those habits online. Specifically, the collection of health data has become abundant, because most people now have or wear some sort of device to track daily patterns, steps, cycles, and more. Even our phones often default to track these things for us, whether we choose to enable the function or not.

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