Foundation Model Series: Accelerating Pathology Model Development Using Embeddings with Julianna Ianni from Proscia

Jan 27, 2025

Julianna Ianni, Vice President of AI Research and Development at Proscia, is reshaping pathology with advanced AI solutions. She discusses how Concentriq's innovative Embeddings feature accelerates AI model creation—making it 13 times faster than traditional methods. Julianna dives into the importance of integrating external foundation models for enhanced performance and flexibility. The conversation also covers tackling biases in AI and the platform’s role in revolutionizing precision medicine, ultimately making pathology insights more accessible.

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ANECDOTE

Concentriq Embeddings Inspiration

Proscia, developing AI models, realized they constantly extracted pixels then converted them to embeddings.
This inspired Concentriq Embeddings, a tool streamlining this process within their platform.

INSIGHT

Concentriq Embeddings Impact

Concentriq Embeddings accelerates AI development by reducing data friction for scientists.
It simplifies data handling, image formats, and complex infrastructure, allowing faster innovation.

INSIGHT

Foundation Model Approach

Proscia chose to integrate existing foundation models like a "streaming service" rather than building their own.
This offers users versatility and choice, allowing them to select the best model for their needs.

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How can foundation models accelerate breakthroughs in precision medicine? In today’s episode of Impact AI, we explore this question with returning guest, Julianna Ianni, Vice President of AI Research and Development at Proscia, a company revolutionizing pathology through cutting-edge technology. Join us as we explore how their platform, Concentriq, and its new Embeddings feature are transforming AI model development, making pathology-driven insights faster and more accessible than ever before. You’ll also learn how Proscia is shaping the future of precision medicine and discover practical insights for leveraging AI to advance healthcare. Whether you're curious about pathology, AI, or innovations in precision medicine, this episode offers invaluable takeaways you won’t want to miss!

Key Points:

An overview of Julianna’s biomedical engineering background and Proscia's mission.
Insight into Proscia’s Concentriq platform, aiding more than two million diagnoses annually.
Ways that Concentriq Embeddings streamlines AI development by eliminating data friction.
How Concentriq Embeddings make model creation 13x faster than traditional methods.
Why Proscia integrates external foundation models for versatility and superior performance.
Flexible and efficient: how Concentriq lets users test, swap, and select models with ease.
Types of solutions built using these embeddings, including rapid biomarker detection.
Tackling AI challenges like reducing overfitting and addressing bias in medical applications.
Lessons from pathology: simplifying complex workflows for faster AI adoption in other fields.
A look at the future of foundation models for pathology and Julianna’s advice for innovators.

Quotes:

“With the rise of foundation models that are pathology-specific and more powerful than the models of yesterday, the ability to extract embeddings efficiently became even more important for us.” — Julianna Ianni

“The pathology world didn't need another hit movie. It needed a streaming service.” — Julianna Ianni

“[Continue] to innovate and [understand] what's out there. There's a lot of change in the [pathology] field right now – You're going to make plans and then you're going to need to remake those plans because things are changing so quickly.” — Julianna Ianni

“ChatGPT didn't pervade our culture because it's fantastic technology. It pervaded our culture because the fantastic technology was easy to use. Pathology should be that easy. Our aim is to drive it there.” — Julianna Ianni

Links:

Proscia

Julianna Ianni on LinkedIn

Julianna Ianni on X

Julianna Ianni on Google Scholar

Concentriq Embeddings
Concentriq Embeddings internal case study
Proscia AI Toolkit
Zero-Shot Tumor Detection Example

Previous episode of Impact AI: Data-Driven Pathology with Coleman Stavish and Julianna Ianni from Proscia

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