Review: The coming 15 years in gynaecological pathology: digitisation, artificial intelligence, and new technologies

If you stand too close to the painting for too long observing all the details, you begin to lose sight of what those brush strokes have created. Only when you step back to take in the scene can you have a full understanding and appreciation for how the individual elements come together to create a work of art.

I’ve always been curious, with a need to be on the cutting edge of scientific innovation, so after a successful academic career I moved to the rapidly evolving world of biotech. A 15-year journey in this space ultimately led me to Ultivue, their novel InSituPlex® assay, and following advances in tissue multiplexing.

It’s clearly a very timely discussion with many recent articles reviewing the complexities of the tumor microenvironment and overall tumor heterogeneity that have been implicated in late-stage clinical failures, underscoring an urgent need for tests that accurately predict response to the growing number of available therapies.

Alfred Hitchcock once said, “The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture”, for the immunotherapy picture, that successful villain is M1 macrophages.

The brilliant Stephen Hawking once said that “The universe does not behave according to our pre-conceived ideas. It continues to surprise us.” The same statement is also true for how we think of the dynamic nature of the cancer universe, in particular the complexity of the tumor immune microenvironment (TiME/TMEs)- an ever-evolving rich milieu comprising of non-malignant immune cells, fibroblasts, adipocytes, extracellular matrix components and neuronal cell types.

GEN: Typically, image analysis tools are greatly influenced by inconsistent staining results and even different techniques used for multiplexing. How does the software used by OracleBio account for inter- and intra-run variability in staining quality? Lorcan. To be honest, we do see staining variability in some sample sets, especially in complex tissues from large clinical

Adapted from a line in “Ode to a Mouse” from fellow countryman Robert Burns, the phrase, “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry”, indicate that no matter how carefully a project is planned, something may still go wrong with it unfortunately speaks to the reality of clinical trials for novel therapeutics, with approximately only 11% of drugs that begin phase I clinical trials eventually being licensed.

It was a record year of attendance at this year’s 37th annual SITC meeting. Whether reflective of waning new Covid cases from a peak in late January 2022, a new location, or merely the appetite to meet up with colleagues, check out new technologies or be part of important scientific discussions-Boston SITC had it all.