Siemens Healthineers, IISc unveil laboratory for AI in precision medicine

Peter Schardt, Chief Technology Officer of Siemens Healthineers, inaugurated the state-of-the-art laboratory. The collaborative laboratory will develop open-source AI-based tools to precisely automate the segmentation of pathological findings in neuroimaging data, with a focus on accurately diagnosing neurological diseases and analysing their clinical impact at a population level.

"The laboratory has been established with the support of Siemens Healthineers’ Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, which also includes six MTech fellowships for women, aiming to enhance female representation in artificial intelligence. Vaanathi Sundaresan, Assistant Professor at IISc’s Department of Computational and Data Sciences (CDS) will lead the programme. The focus of this collaborative laboratory will be to work closely with neurologists, radiologists and Siemens Healthineers to integrate computational models into their regular clinical workflows," the release stated.

Speaking on the partnership, Peter Schardt, Chief Technology Officer, Siemens Healthineers, said, “The collaboration with IISc solidifies our commitment to advancing precision medicine through AI using state-of-the-art, data-driven deep-learning techniques. Leveraging IISc’s academic excellence and our strong core in medical imaging, smart solutions developed through this collaboration will help us ultimately save lives through precise diagnoses and evidence-based treatments.”

Govindan Rangarajan, Director, IISc, said, “This lab marks a crucial step forward in unlocking the potential of AI for precision medicine. Together, we are accelerating the future of healthcare for everyone. This collaboration is a powerful example of how industry and academia can come together to tackle complex challenges.”

Dileep Mangsuli, Executive Director, Siemens Healthineers, said, “India is one of the four global innovation hubs for Siemens Healthineers, and we are committed to being catalysts in interdisciplinary research. This laboratory is a part of our CSR initiative. We take pride in giving back to the society and healthcare research is an important aspect of it. Along with IISc, we aim to reshape the landscape of neuroscientific progress through the capabilities of artificial intelligence, translating laboratory insights into intelligent solutions. We want to empower the broader clinical research community and be changemakers in the fight against world’s most life-threatening diseases.”

Navakanta Bhat, Dean, Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences, IISc, added, “We are very excited about this partnership that offers healthcare innovation possibilities by leveraging the deep expertise of IISc faculty and students in the area of artificial intelligence along with the medical imaging expertise of Siemens Healthineers, an industry leader in this field. The focus on neuroimaging is also timely, given the growing incidence of age-related disorders of the brain. We hope that this partnership will develop new tools for early diagnosis of a variety of neurological diseases.”

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