Discover Digital Pathology With OracleBio

The origins of digital pathology date back to the 1960s, when the first telepathological experiments were conducted. As the century turned, the term “digital pathology” became increasingly accepted by the scientific community to describe digitization efforts in pathology. Since 2000, technical prerequisites (scanner, storage, network) were still a limiting factor for wide dissemination of digital pathology concepts. During the past 5 years, however, with the introduction of new powerful and affordable imaging technology along with storage/cloud technologies, all this has changed.

Research in digital pathology is getting more and more advanced every day, so we interviewed Lorcan Sherry, Chief Scientific Officer at OracleBio. He completed both a BSc in Pharmacology and PhD in Cardiovascular medicine at the University of Edinburgh. After completing his PhD, he began a career in the pharmaceutical industry with roles as a Research Scientist & Team Leader at Organon, Schering-Plough Research Institute and MSD before co-founding OracleBio in 2011.

Lorcan, what makes you enthusiastic about your work?

I am passionate about continually driving the adoption of quantitative digital pathology techniques within R&D as I firmly believe in the benefits that image 321analysis approaches can deliver to scientists working on drug discovery programs. My personal mission is to build a company of dedicated image analysis scientists who are committed to delivering high-quality data for our clients.

About OracleBio, what is its history, its mission?

OracleBio is a leading quantitative digital pathology contract research organization (CRO) based in Scotland, UK. The company is privately-owned and was founded in 2011 by myself and John Waller, a colleague at MSD.

As former pharmaceutical research scientists, John and I were first witnesses to the emergence of digital pathology and its ever-increasing adoption within the pharmaceutical R&D landscape. It became clear to us that within drug discovery R&D departments, whether in biotech start-ups or large pharmaceutical companies, there was a need to engage specialist expertise in quantitative digital pathology.

Coinciding with the rise in immuno-oncology research, the demand for outsourced digital pathology services rapidly grew, owing to the need for robust and reproducible data to consolidate data-driven decision making, primarily in precision medicine research. That said, we embarked on a journey to establish OracleBio as the leading specialists in quantitative digital pathology. Initially starting out with 2 consultants, OracleBio has now grown to have 17 employees serving over 50 clients in the UK and global markets including the US, Europe and Asia.

Our mission at OracleBio is to enhance decision making within R&D by leveraging quantitative digital pathology to provide robust data and actionable insights. We are committed to driving the adoption and application of digital pathology to support the progression of personalized medicine.

What services does your company offer?

OracleBio provides high-quality quantitative digital pathology services. We utilize best-in-class image analysis platforms, Indica Labs HALO® and Visiopharm Oncotopix®, to carry out tissue-based quantitative analysis. The merit in leveraging quantitative data is the provision of objective and reproducible investigative methods of data analysis that eliminate intra- and inter-observer subjectivity, while delivering meaningful and contextual interpretation of R&D study outcomes at the tissue and cellular level.

Our services are demanded by R&D departments in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector. We work with both small- and large-scale R&D programs across all phases of the pipeline – from discovery programs in biotech start-ups to clinical biomarker studies in top-10 pharmaceutical companies.

Since 2011, our quantitative digital pathology services have been utilized in multiple therapeutic areas. Unsurprisingly, most of the studies that we work with are in immuno-oncology R&D. This is followed by NASH/NAFLD, Fibrosis and Autoimmune Diseases. We also have case studies in other key therapeutic areas including Dermatology, CNS, Diabetes, Cardiovascular disease and Muscle disease.

In terms of technical capabilities, we can carry out image analysis on Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Immunofluorescence (IF) tissue slides – single, dual and multiplex. In addition, we extensively work with Tissue Microarrays (TMAs), in-situ hybridization and RNAscope® histologic sections. For drug discovery R&D, the primary aim is often the quantification of drug response and biomarker expression endpoints. Using advanced image analysis techniques, OracleBio delivers to this goal. For instance, we can perform marker quantification on a cell-by-cell basis, defining the number of single or dual IHC positive stained cells per mm2 of tissue or quantification of the relative proximity of cell types. At a time when the field of immuno-oncology is exploiting such novel and complex biology in context of cellular interactions, there has never been a more important time to deliver the detailed, reliable, quantitative data that OracleBio and digital pathology can offer.

What sets your expertise apart from others?

The key driver at OracleBio is a dedication to delivering data that is robust, reproducible and actionable. Ultimately, we strive to empower researchers with data and insights that enhance and accelerate their decision making within R&D. All of our activities are underpinned by core values that guide us internally and are projected onto the workflow we adopt for studies.

First and foremost, our philosophy is to work closely with clients. We place great emphasis on collaboration and responsiveness to foster effective and fruitful working relationships. After agreeing the terms of the study, we assign a dedicated study manager that establishes an open line of communication throughout the course of the study – setting clear milestones and conducting interim project reviews.

As a pharmaceutical CRO, one of our core values is scientific rigor & integrity. We apply a thorough, logical and unbiased scientific approach to every project, and actively advise our clients on the best study approach to ensure the effectiveness of image analysis and adherence to quality standards.

OracleBio’s diverse team of Image Analysis scientists all have advanced qualifications in life sciences – BScs, MScs and PhDs. All scientists are trained in image analysis best practices and keep up with industry trends. In particular, our leadership team brings combined expertise of over a 100 years in pharmaceutical R&D – with a breadth and depth of experience in project management and image analysis across multiple therapeutic areas.

Over the past few years, we’ve found an increasing requirement to utilize quantitative digital pathology to address more complex questions within R&D. That is why OracleBio keeps abreast of innovations in the field and adopts best practices so that our clients can benefit from our specialist capabilities. As a company that focuses directly on digital pathology services, our business model allows us to do this effectively.

What challenges are you willing to address in the near future?

Clinical trial research studies form an important part of the Pharmaceutical R&D process. As we know, Clinical trials are performed to determine the efficacy and safety of a new drug and are conducted in accordance with Good Clinical Practice (GCP) quality standards. However currently, there are only a limited number of standards that are directly applicable or related to the running of digital pathology procedures on clinical study samples. OracleBio is working towards the implementation of a quality framework, utilizing GCP quality standards and associated guidelines, that will enable us to provide quantitative image analysis data in support of packages for regulatory submission.

A very interesting and recent development in the field of histology is the emergence of ‘High Plexing’ or ‘High Multiplexing’ assays, which is essentially an improvement on existing multiplex platforms. Multiplexing generally allows you to analyze up to 6 markers, whereas High Plexing permits the analysis of tens to hundreds of markers. Artificial Intelligence (AI) deep learning is also another exciting computational development that is making its case in quantitative digital pathology. The integration of deep learning technologies within image analysis platforms facilitates the execution of more challenging and complex studies where a wide range of cellular and staining features are required for robust algorithm development across large tissue image sets.

To enable us to meet the changing demands of evolving R&D, OracleBio has incorporated both AI Deep Learning and High Plexing technologies into its existing Image Analysis capabilities – allowing us to consolidate our service offering and support the study outcomes for our clients. You can find out more about this on this article.

What do you expect from Scientist?

I would like to invite researchers on Scientist to learn more about quantitative digital pathology and explore how their R&D programs can benefit from tissue-based quantitative image analysis.