Many diseases are still diagnosed, monitored and studied in part on the basis of biological samples that have been mounted on a glass slide and studied under a microscope. Today, that analysis is still carried out by a human pathologist, but what if the slides could be scanned and analysed using artificial intelligence (AI)? And what if they could be placed in a repository and made available to the scientific community? These are the questions the BIGPICTURE project hopes to answer.

The project aims to create a repository of digital copies of around 3 million slides covering a range of disease areas. This repository will then be used to develop artificial intelligence tools that could aid in the analysis of slides.

To achieve its goal, the project will first create the infrastructure needed to store, share and process millions of (often heavy) image files. Secondly, they will address legal and ethical issues to ensure patient privacy and data confidentiality issues are fully respected.

In total, the project plans to populate the repository with 3 million digital slides from humans as well as laboratory animals. along with all the information associated with them. These will provide the project with the data needed to develop AI pathology tools. Finally, the project aims to develop functionalities to facilitate the use of the database as well as the processing of images for diagnostic and research purposes.

In the long term, the project will develop sustainability plans to maintain and continue to develop the platform beyond the end of the IMI project.