Bringing Digital Pathology to Life
Burnham Institute for Medical Research Advances Biomarker Research for Major Human Malignancies Using Aperio Digital Pathology Platform
Digital Pathology Enables Multi-Site Validation of Protein Expression Patterns in Tumors
Vista, CA – April 22, 2008 – Aperio Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of digital pathology systems and services for the healthcare and life sciences industry, has been an ongoing collaborator with Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) to utilize Aperio’s award-winning ScanScope® slide scanning system and quantitative immunohistochemistry tools to assist in the validation and clinical translation of Burnham’s cancer biomarkers. Aperio’s digital pathology platform provides pathologists with global, Internet-secure access to digital slide images and related information from anywhere, anytime.
The collaboration originated at a single site at the Burnham Institute in La Jolla, CA where Aperio’s image analysis software helped researchers and pathologists measure nuclear, membrane, and cytoplasm protein expression in tumor tissues. The ScanScope® slide scanning system with assisted software facilitated the high-throughput investigation of hundreds of cancer cases on tissue microarray (TMA) chips.
Today, the collaboration extends to multiple projects that encompass more than 50 daily users and external collaborators from more than 26 labs, all of whom access digital slide images remotely in order to annotate their digital slides, apply image analysis algorithms, and share results using digital slide conferencing. In one project alone, 240 prostate cancer cases displayed on 1,600 tissue microarray cores were reviewed by four pathologists from different academic locations across the United States and then immunoscored by Aperio’s image analysis algorithms.
Aperio worked with Burnham researchers to develop advanced image analysis algorithms for Burnham’s novel dual or multicolor stainings in histology and immunohistochemistry to facilitate the simultaneous measurement of protein expression, cell typing, or protein colocalization. Digital pathology is ideally suited to support Burnham’s expansion in Orlando, FL and Santa Barbara, CA, lowering geographic barriers and connecting scientists and pathologists from remote sites.
By leveraging the efforts of multiple investigators at multiple sites, Aperio’s digital pathology platform has significantly advanced Burnham’s ability to validate quantitative protein expression of biomarkers prior to preclinical and clinical trials with pharmaceutical partners.
“Aperio’s digital pathology platform and the novel image analysis algorithms developed by Allen Olson, Ph.D., manager of image analysis applications at Aperio, measure biomarker expression in the original tissue context, often exceeding the limits of any conventional microscope,” stated Stan Krajewski, M.D., Ph.D., director of the histology and molecular pathology core at Burnham. “Aperio’s platform also facilitates the expansion of biomarker research in major human solid epithelial malignancies to an unlimited number of participating institutions and researchers, facilitating studies on clinical applications such as prostate, colon, gastric, ovarian, breast, cervix, lung, melanoma, and head and neck squamous cell cancers."
Results of the ongoing work between Burnham and Aperio have recently been published in several journal articles including Clinical Cancer Research, The Prostate, Blood, and Cancer Research.
“Burnham has a long history of oncology innovation, and their unique collaborative environment is well suited to digital pathology,” said Steven Potts, Ph.D., director of biopharma at Aperio. “These multi-site, multi-investigator studies are a remarkable example of how research will be performed across geographic boundaries in the future. Burnham combines novel histological staining approaches with a deep understanding of underlying regulatory mechanisms of tumors, which has helped Aperio to keep pace by developing matching image analysis algorithms for quantifying protein expression.”
About Aperio
Aperio is digitizing pathology. We provide systems and services for digital pathology, which is an environment for the management and interpretation of pathology information that originates with the digitization of a glass slide. Aperio’s award-winning ScanScope® slide scanning systems and Spectrum™ digital pathology information management software improve the efficiency and quality of pathology services for pathologists and other professionals. Applications include education, remote viewing, archival and retrieval, basic research, and image analysis. Aperio's products are FDA cleared for specific clinical applications, and are intended for research and education use for other applications. For more information, please visit www.aperio.com.
About Burnham Institute for Medical Research
Burnham Institute for Medical Research uses a unique, collaborative approach to medical research to reveal the fundamental molecular causes of disease and devise the innovative therapies of tomorrow. In recent years, Burnham has become one of the fastest growing research institutes in the country. Burnham ranks among the top 25 organizations worldwide (according to the Institute for Scientific Information) for its research impact and among the top four research institutes nationally for NIH grant funding. The Institute is organized into five disease-focused research centers: a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center; the Del E. Webb Center for Neurosciences, Aging and Stem Cell Research; the Infectious and Inflammatory Disease Center; the Diabetes & Obesity Research Center; and the Sanford Children’s Health Research Center. Burnham is a nonprofit, public benefit corporation headquartered in La Jolla, California, with campuses in Orlando, Florida and Santa Barbara, California. For more information, please visit www.burnham.org.
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