An openly available generative AI tool can interpret millions of cells in human tissues in hours, revealing new insights and allowing researchers and clinicians to ask questions about conditions such as cancer.
A first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence (AI)-based neural network can rapidly analyse and interpret millions of cells from a patient sample, predicting molecular changes in the tissue. It can potentially pinpoint where personalised treatments could be most effective for conditions such as cancer.
NicheCompass leverages the power of generative AI to create a visual database combining spatial genomic data on cell types, where they are found, and how they communicate. Created by researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the Institute of AI for Health at Helmholtz Munich, the University of Würzburg, and their collaborators as part of the wider Human Cell Atlas Initiative1, this is the first AI method capable of measuring and interpreting a range of data from a cell’s social network to recognise and analyse different cellular neighbourhoods.
A new paper, published today (18 March) in Nature Genetics, introduces NicheCompass and details how it can uncover tissue changes across breast and lung cancer patients. Researchers show how NicheCompass can identify how certain people may respond differently to treatment — all in one hour, through the power of AI. Ultimately, it will help develop personalised therapy plans, highlighting specific changes that could be targeted in conditions such as cancer.
“Having a huge amount of data about the human body is crucial to finding new ways to understand, prevent and treat disease. However, we also need tools that allow us to access all the benefits this information could provide. NicheCompass is a significant leap in this field, leveraging the power of AI but also offering interpretability, allowing researchers and clinicians to ask questions about their data and better understand and treat diseases.”
Sebastian Birk, first author at the Institute of AI for Health, Helmholtz Munich and the Wellcome Sanger Institute
Credit: Wellcome Sanga Institute