AI aids UH in developing cancer-fighting software

Researchers at the University of Houston are working on new software technology using artificial intelligence to enhance cell-based immunotherapy for cancer and other diseases. CellChorus Inc., a spinoff from the university, is commercializing the Time-lapse Imaging Microscopy In Nanowell Grids™ platform for dynamic single-cell analysis without labels. The company has secured a $2.5 million grant from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health to accelerate development in collaboration with the University of Houston.

The project involves creating videos that show T cells interacting with tumor cells, demonstrating their killing process. Badri Roysam, a professor at the University of Houston, is working alongside Professor Navin Varadarajan on this initiative. Varadarjan is also a co-founder of CellChorus.

“This is an opportunity to leverage artificial intelligence methods for advancing the life sciences,” said Roysam. “We are especially excited about its applications to advancing cell-based immunotherapy to treat cancer and other diseases.”

TIMING™ allows researchers to study single cells over time by producing numerous videos that require automated computer vision systems for analysis.

Rebecca Berdeaux, chief scientific officer at CellChorus and co-Principal Investigator on the grant, stated: “By combining AI, microscale manufacturing, and advanced microscopy, the label-free TIMING platform will yield deep insight into cellular behaviors that directly impact human disease and new classes of therapeutics.”

The Small Business Technology Transfer Fast-Track award aims to quantify cell behavior without fluorescent staining. This method lets scientists observe cells in their natural state and gather information about movement and interactions.

New AI models trained on millions of cell images will enable high-throughput single-cell analysis by customers. The grant's content does not necessarily reflect official views of the National Institutes of Health.