Digital & Computational Pathology - Program Director, National Cancer Institute

A program director from the National Cancer Institute discusses the role of digital pathology in their current work, which primarily focuses on cancer biomarker research, validating biomarker assays, and biobanking projects. They receive samples from various clinical sites and use digital pathology to qualify and characterize the samples, confirm diagnoses, and ensure the quality of the samples. They also discuss the use of digital pathology for quantification using IHC for standard biomarkers. The stakeholder’s institution currently spends $600,000-700,000 on digital pathology instruments, such as scanners and software. They estimate the number of slides used per year to increase over the next five years, particularly in the field of spatial biology. They also discuss which technologies, such as IHC and spatial RNA, are currently used and their potential for growth. The stakeholder mentions some pain points and unmet needs in current digital pathology offerings, such as limited access to large well-annotated datasets, the availability and cost of AI-based devices, and challenges with data extraction and interpretation. They also discuss the importance of accuracy and trust in AI-based tools, as well as potential changes in vendor usage and the possibility of using external services for digital pathology work. The stakeholder also mentions the features of the software that comes with the scanners, including biomarker analysis capabilities and the ability to view multiple slides simultaneously.