Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem wants to improve its blood testing speed and capabilities in order to faster diagnose blood cancer and other infections, and has signed a research collaboration agreement with Sight Diagnostics, a company specializing in the development of artificial intelligence (AI)-based devices for blood count.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Research will focus on developing the capability to detect and classify white blood cells, and specifically, to differentiate between different types of lymphocytes. Detecting malignant lymphocytes in the blood can aid in the early detection of the types of cancer that affect blood. This is a highly complex and often lengthy task using existing technology.
The research will be conducted using Sight Diagnostics' flagship device, Sight OLO, which performs a blood test in a matter of minutes using just two drops of blood.
Sight's Research and Development Team will analyze the images of the blood cells collected during the study and employ AI-based algorithms to cross-reference the visual information with clinical data from Shaare Zedek.
The company believes that the results of the research will lay the foundation for innovative diagnostic capabilities for different types of lymphocytes, and that these diagnostics could eventually help detect and monitor infections, as well as uncover malignant cells at an earlier stage than is possible at present.
Shaare Zedek and Sight Diagnostics began cooperating two years ago after the medical center inaugurated an innovation center that focuses on working with digital healthcare companies. The innovation center provides access to a database of samples and data collected at the hospital. A previous collaboration between Shaare Zedek and Sight Diagnostics focused on early detection of the coronavirus.
"The long-standing and fruitful collaboration between Shaare Zedek and Sight Diagnostics is an excellent example of our capacity to contribute to product development processes ... to develop technological solutions that will enable better and faster treatments for patients in Israel and around the world," said Dr. Renana Ofan, the head of the medical center's research and innovation efforts.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
