Moorfields Eye Hospital INSIGHT research hub will collaborate with artificial intelligence development company Insitro
The partnership will use ocular imaging to build an AI foundation model and identify new genetic targets for degenerative diseases
A new partnership between US-based biotechnology firm Insitro and Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust will expand the collaborators' efforts in neurodegenerative conditions. According to a joint press release, Insitro will use its machine learning-enabled drug discovery and development resources in conjunction with the INSIGHT Health Data Research Hub at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.
“Working with Insitro to develop a novel foundation model serves INSIGHT’s mission to benefit patients, the NHS and wider society through the development of new tools for disease detection, diagnosis, and treatment,” said Professor Pearse Keane, MD, FRCOphth, consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields and director of INSIGHT. “This will be the first collaboration of its type for INSIGHT at Moorfields and represents a mutual commitment with Insitro to unlocking new discoveries to improve human health using clinical data and artificial intelligence (AI). We have designed the collaboration to ensure the safety and privacy of patient data, with only INSIGHT at Moorfields researchers accessing the data, in a secure environment.”
The partner programme is designed to support development of a foundation AI model, which will guide precise patient segmentation and provide more information on biomarkers for a variety of pathologies. Foundation models are trained on large-scale datasets, and serve as a basis for more specific applications and precise tasks. The model developed by the Insitro and INSIGHT collaboration will be fine-tuned to recognise disease-specific cohorts and accelerate discovery of new genetic targets, according to the press release.
The INSIGHT initiative from Moorfields provides researchers with access to the 35 million ocular images in its database. The optical coherence tomography (OCT) images in that dataset will provide vital information for chronic disorders including ophthalmic, neurodegenerative and metabolic conditions, said Daphne Koller, CEO and founder of Insitro.
“OCT data at this scale contains a treasure trove of information about human health, providing a new window into diseases of the brain, the eye and more,” Koller said in the press release. “Building a world-class foundation model with INSIGHT at Moorfields will help us unravel disease biology and identify novel targets, including for our programmes in neurodegenerative diseases. We are delighted to broaden our network in the UK health research ecosystem, allowing us to advance our mission of finding new and better medicines while ensuring the safe use of patient data.”
