Abstract: Some embodiments relate to an automated method of transferring biological material from a sample disposed on a planar substrate into a collection tube. The method can include: using a dissection too that has an internal passageway extending between first and second ends of the tool and an air-permeable filter element that spans the internal passageway. The method can include steps of physically detaching the biological material from the planar substrate using the scraping blade of the dissection tool, generating an underpressure at the tool second end by connecting the internal passageway to a vacuum generator, attaching the collection tube to an outer surface of the dissection tool in an airtight manner; and generating an overpressure at the tool second end, and transferring the material into the collection tube.

Abstract: A method (100) is disclosed for determining a medical imaging schedule for a subject receiving treatment at a target site. The method comprises obtaining (102) first blood panel information from a first blood sample acquired from the subject prior to the treatment commencing; obtaining (104) initial imaging data acquired in respect of the target site prior to the treatment commencing; obtaining (106) information regarding the treatment being received; and determining (108), based on at least the first blood panel information, the initial imaging data and the treatment information, a time at which to capture first imaging data in respect of the target site in order to assess a response to the treatment. A system and a computer program product are also disclosed.

Abstract: The invention discloses a system for identifying an adverse event likely to occur in respect of a subject to receive or having received immunotherapy treatment. The system comprises a memory comprising instruction data representing a set of instructions; and a processor configured to communicate with the memory and to execute the set of instructions. The set of instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to obtain a subject profile associated with the subject; obtain drug administration data associated with the subject; obtain medical data associated with the subject; determine, based on the subject profile and the drug administration data, a first set (114) of adverse events likely to occur in respect of the subject; and determine, based on the subject profile and the medical data, a second set (116) of adverse events likely to occur in respect of the subject. A subject monitoring apparatus, a method and a computer program product are also disclosed.

Abstract: The application relates to a sample holder (110) and a system (100). The application also relates to a method for processing a biological sample (S) and use of the sample holder or of the system in an analytical method or a diagnostic method. The sample holder (110) comprises a tubular member (111) with a wall that is at least locally transparent and at least locally permeable for reagents, wherein the tubular member consists at least partially of a transparent material.

Abstract: Aspects and embodiments relate to a method and apparatus configured to perform that method. The method relates to generating an indication of relevance associated with a selected biological phenomenon indicative of condition of an immune system of a patient, that selected biological phenomenon being associated with response of a patient to a chosen therapy. The method comprises steps of: determining one or more measurable input parameters characteristic of the patient and associated with the biological phenomenon; mapping the one or more input parameters to a contribution to a score associated with the selected biological phenomenon; and combining the mapped contributions across the one or more input parameters to calculate the score associated with the selected biological phenomenon.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method for determining tumor heterogeneity is provided. Embodiments of the method involve analyzing a radiological image of a tumor to calculate a value indicative of tumor activity at each of a plurality of locations in the tumor; determining whether each calculated value is above a predetermined threshold; and calculating a heterogeneity score for the tumor; wherein the heterogeneity score is calculated based on a volume fraction of the tumor having a value indicative of tumor activity above the predetermined threshold. Also provided are associated systems and computer program products.

Abstract: A method of generating a strategy for performing a radiotherapy-based treatment and a system for performing the method. During a radiotherapy-based treatment, characteristics of side-effects are monitored and a risk model of the subject modified based on the characteristics. A new treatment strategy for the radiotherapy-based treatment is obtained based on the modified risk model.

Abstract: Described is a computer-implemented method for identifying responsiveness to therapy for a subject suffering from cancer. The method involves determining values of biomarkers such as the levels of TREX1, PD-L1 and/or immune cell infiltration in a cancerous lesion. The biomarker values are processed to obtain a score indicative of responsiveness of the cancerous lesion to combined radio- and immunotherapy treatment. The method may obtain scores for multiple treatment modalities (such as different doses and/or fractionations of radiotherapy) and/or different cancer lesions in the subject. Also provided is a system and computer program product for performing the method.

Abstract: Methods and systems for calibrating radiological data associated with a tissue in a subject are provide. Various embodiments described herein analyze a radiological image of the tissue to calculate a raw value indicative of a biological parameter such as metabolic activity in the tissue, and analyze a microscopy image of the tissue to identify a distribution of cells of interest within the tissue. A calibrated value indicative of a biological parameter (e.g. metabolic activity) of cells of interest within the tissue is then calculated, by correcting the raw value based on the identified distribution of cells of interest within the tissue.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for use in characterizing lesions in radiology images, comprising performing a computer-based analysis of a pathology image of a sample of a lesion of a subject in order to recognize tissue and/or cellular characteristics of the lesion, wherein the analysis produces a derived pathology image that represents the recognized tissue and/or cellular characteristics, computing one or more radiology features for the lesion from a radiology image of the lesion, and determining correlations between the computed one or more radiology features and the recognized tissue and/or cellular characteristics. With this method, biological ground truth information can be used to identify radiology features that are indicative of certain tissue and/or cellular characteristics of lesions and that may therefore be better suited for characterizing the lesions.

Abstract: A method for stratification of a patient for assessing suitability of a therapy for the patient suffering from an ER (estrogen receptor) and/or PR (progesterone receptor) positive and HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) negative cancer, the therapy being directed towards a signaling pathway, includes: (i) determining an activation status of an ER and/or PR signaling pathway by applying a Proximity Ligation Assay to detect in a tissue sample of the patient a presence of at least one member of the ER family, the at least one member being part of a transcription factor complex, and at least one protein selected from a group consisting of TAFs (TATA-binding protein associated factor), TBP (TATA-box binding protein), POLII (RNA polymerase II), TFII (transcription factor H), p300, CREB (cyclic-AMP response element-binding protein), and CBP (CREB binding protein), wherein the at least one protein is part of the same transcription factor complex.

Abstract: The ability to obtain and digitise pathology samples (such as in histopathology or cytopathology) has opened up the possibility of accurate and automated computer operated analysis, or computer-assisted analysis, when diagnosing a wide range of medical conditions. A typical digital pathology image analysis pipeline involves a large number of image pre-processing and processing operations. Small changes in the parameters used in these algorithms might lead to significant changes in the eventual pathological finding. Accordingly, the present application proposes to perform a sensitivity analysis on a digital pathology image analysis pipeline to assess the sensitivity of a given pathology result to changes of parameters in the digital pathology image analysis pipeline.

Abstract: Currently, there is interest in applying machine learning techniques to analyse digital pathology images automatically. Machine learning techniques often rely on training with a ground-truth image input. The quality and amount of training data determines the quality of the detector, as expressed in the rate of true and false positives, and robustness against variations in the appearance of the input images. The present application proposes to obtain image data of the same sample before and after at least one re-staining step (firstly with a structure-revealing stain, and secondly with a bio marker revealing stain). Sections of the first and second image data having a good registration relationship are chosen, along with the probability of detecting a desired candidate object (such as nucleus) and the probability of the bio marker revealing stain being present annotation data suitable for training a machine learning algorithm on the first and/or the second image data is provided.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus (10) for determining cellular composition in one or more tissue sample microscopic images. It is described to provide (210) first image data of at least one tissue sample. The first image data relates to a non-specific staining of a tissue sample of the at least one tissue sample. Second image data of the at least one tissue sample is provided (220). The second image data relates to specific staining of a tissue sample of the at least one tissue sample. Either (i) the tissue sample that has undergone specific staining is the same as the tissue sample that has undergone non-specific staining, or (ii) the tissue sample that has undergone specific staining is different to the tissue sample that has undergone non-specific staining. A non-specific cellular composition cell density map is determined (230) on the basis of the first image data. A specific cellular composition cell density map is determined (240) on the basis of the second image data.

Abstract: A method of generating a strategy for performing a radiotherapy-based treatment and a system for performing the method. During a radiotherapy-based treatment, characteristics of side-effects are monitored and a risk model of the subject modified based on the characteristics. A new treatment strategy for the radiotherapy-based treatment is obtained based on the modified risk model.

Abstract: Disclosed is a system for analysis of microscopic image data acquired from biological cells. The system includes a data processing system which is configured to read the image data and determine a plurality of vertices, wherein each of the vertices represents a location of an entity of interest within a region of interest of the image data. The data processing system generates a plurality of graphs, wherein for each of the graphs, the generation of the respective graph includes generating a plurality of edges, wherein each of the edges has two of the plurality of vertices associated therewith. For each of the graphs one or more vertex sets are identified, each of which consisting of one or more of the plurality of vertices. The data processing system further determines, for each of the graphs, a number of the identified vertex sets.

Abstract: The invention relates to a printing control device (10) to control printing of a cover layer on a tissue or cell sample to be examined, a system (1) for printing of a cover layer (1) on a tissue or cell sample to be examined, a method to control printing of a cover layer on a tissue or cell sample to be sample to be examined, a computer program element for controlling such device or system for performing such method and a computer readable medium having stored such computer program element. The printing control device (10) comprises an imaging unit (11) and a printing control unit (12). The imaging unit (11) is configured to provide image data of the sample, and to determine a local image parameter from the image data. The local image parameter relates to local tissue porosity and/or a local capillary force of the sample. The printing control unit (12) is configured to control a printing parameter for printing the cover layer on the sample based on the local image parameter.

Abstract: A method (100) is disclosed for determining a medical imaging schedule for a subject receiving treatment at a target site. The method comprises obtaining (102) first blood panel information from a first blood sample acquired from the subject prior to the treatment commencing; obtaining (104) initial imaging data acquired in respect of the target site prior to the treatment commencing; obtaining (106) information regarding the treatment being received; and determining (108), based on at least the first blood panel information, the initial imaging data and the treatment information, a time at which to capture first imaging data in respect of the target site in order to assess a response to the treatment. A system and a computer program product are also disclosed.

Abstract: Disclosed is a device for controlling a volume of an analysis chamber of a micro chamber arrangement to which a region of interest of an object is exposed. The volume is controlled using a volume reducing element which is deposited on a surface of the micro chamber arrangement. The device comprises a deposition unit configured to determine a position and an extent of the volume reducing element depending on (a) the region of interest and further depending on (b) a predetermined level by which a volume of the analysis chamber is reduced using the volume reducing structure. The deposition unit is further configured to deposit the volume reducing element depending on the determined position and extent.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an illustration of an annotation (22) at a sample slide (14). It is the intention for the invention to copy the annotation (22) provided at a reference slide (12) to the sample slide (14). Typically, a reference image (26) of the reference slide (12) is provided, in particular by scanning the reference slide (12). The reference image (26) therefore has the information about a reference slice (16) which is carried by the reference slide (12). Furthermore, the reference slide (12) has been marked with a region of interest (20) and the annotation (22), which can be associated with the region of interest (20). If such reference slide (12) is scanned, the respective reference image (26) comprises the information about the marked region of interest (20) as well as the annotation (22), too. Furthermore, the sample slide (14) carrying a sample slice (18) can be scanned, in order to provide a sample image (28).