Augmentiqs, a 2019 Luminate company, exhibited at the 2019 Biological Stain Commission event that took place Friday, June 14 at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC Pathology). The event brings together pathologists from across the globe, and highlights URMC place among the nation’s top pathology centers.
As a recent addition to Rochester’s start-up ecosystem thanks to its acceptance to the Luminate accelerator, Augmentiq’s expertise in microscopy, software and pathology workflow brought about interaction with a group of pathologists and biomedical engineers at the URMC. Augmentiqs and URMC are now planning the development of new quantitative diagnostic applications to be deployed as augmented reality within the microscope eyepiece, as well as novel techniques for enhancing the pathology workflow.
As part of this collaborative effort, Augmentiqs was invited by URMC to join BSC-certified companies ThermoFisher, Corning, Millpore Sigma and Eppendorf as vendors at the 40th annual event. The staff at URMC believe Augmentiqs holds tremendous value for pathology labs, with many potential synergies in the area of stain uniformity and quantification.
Looking forward, Augmentiqs and URMC will be collaborating on clinical trials of new quantitative methodologies for cancer diagnosis. Specifically, immunohistochemistry (IHC) breast tissue stains often require quantitative analysis to determine best treatment and likelihood of disease recurrence. Augmentiqs is developing a new software application for automatic quantitative analysis of IHC stains, which could enable pathologists to quickly obtain a true quantitative score – resulting in better health outcomes and cost reductions.
The University of Rochester Medical Center, led by Dr. David Hicks and Dr. Brad Turner as PIs, plan to conduct these clinical trials over the second half of 2019, with initial results by Q2 2020.
About the Biological Stain Commission
The Biological Stain Commission (BSC) was established in 1923, and is globally recognized as a quality control reference laboratory for stains used in histology, biological, and research laboratories. Located at URMC, the Commission ensures dye quality through chemical and performance criteria; promotes cooperation and dialogue among manufacturers, vendors and users; and educate users on proper usage. URMC has hosted the BSC annual meeting since 1980.