Owkin and Bergonié Institute partner with cancer centers on immuno-oncology and sarcoma
The Institut Bergonié, a cancer treatment centre based in Bordeaux, and Owkin, a startup specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) has announced the signing of a research partnership. This framework agreement aims to guide collaborations between Owkin and the Institut Bergonié and to develop an infrastructure that will enable federated learning between the Institut Bergonié and other research centres.
Institut Bergonié and Owkin will collaborate closely on sarcoma projects using the Owkin Connect platform. This is a suite of software that allows to create machine learning models based on federated learning. In concrete terms, data from several centres will be used to develop a more accurate and robust model without the data leaving the hospitals’ servers.
Carlo Lucchesi, head of the Bioinformatics Unit at the Institut Bergonié Institute
The federated learning technology developed by Owkin allows us to meet the highest standards of confidentiality and to guarantee the protection of patient data while taking advantage of the exceptional quality and diversity of the data.
For Nicolas Portolan, Deputy Director-General of the Institut Bergonié, “This partnership allows us to mobilize and federate the high level of expertise of the Imaging bio-pathology and medical oncology departments in the service of an action that will to concretely and rapidly improve the care of patients suffering from sarcoma and sarcoma and other pathologies. Today, thanks to AI, we are in an exciting phase exciting and hopeful phase in the evolution of cancer care, allowing us to cancer care, which will make it possible to improve equal access to this high level of expertise.
The first collaborative project between Institut Bergonié and Owkin focuses on sarcoma
Owkin’s data scientists will work on data from more than 5,000 patients with different types of sarcoma. The project will be used to determine the contribution of AI in the analysis of digitized histological slides compared to conventional tools. This research will focus on the identification and classification of different subtypes of the disease (genomically complex sarcomas, sarcomas with recurrent translocation, dedifferentiated liposarcoma and GIST) and will be led by Prof. Jean-Michel Coindre and Prof. Antoine Italiano. Part of this project will be carried out in partnership with other sarcoma expert centres, including the Centre Léon Bérard Center, thus allowing worldwide experts to collaborate on the same scientific questions thanks to Owkin Connect, Owkin’s federated learning technology. A second collaborative project between the Institut Bergonié and Owkin will evaluate the contribution of AI in predicting the response to immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer on multimodal data.
In addition to Owkin Connect, the staff of the Institut Bergonié will be able to use the Owkin Studio research platform. This will allow all researchers to benefit from the best AI algorithms developed by Owkin’s teams. The doctors will be able to collaborate directly via Owkin Studio with Owkin’s data scientists and explore the results of the algorithms trained on their data. For Meriem Sefta, Director of Partnerships at Owkin, “the stakes of this for the Institut Bergonié and Owkin to capitalize on the remarkable work that is being done in France to treat certain rare diseases rare pathologies such as sarcoma. The research carried out in particular within the framework of the Netsarc network for more than 30 years offers Owkin the opportunity to develop predictive models to improve the understanding of this disease. We are very proud to bring our machine learning and federated learning technologies to this network of experts while maintaining the confidentiality and security of the data.”
About the Institut Bergonié
The Institut Bergonié is a health care, teaching and research establishment with a mission of innovation, technology watch and therapeutic development. Within the regional cancer centre, in close cooperation with the CHU and the Bordeaux University Hospital and healthcare institutions, it implements innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. The Institut Bergonié offers an ideal setting to detect the needs of its patients and to develop all innovative techniques and technologies that can actively contribute to the improvement of the quality of care.
For more information, visit www.bergonie.fr and follow @BERGONIE33 on Twitter. Press contact: Carmona Gérald – G.Carmona@bordeaux.unicancer.fr
About Owkin
Owkin is the first end-to-end AI biotech company on a mission to understand complex biology and ensure every patient gets the right treatment.
We identify precision therapeutics, de-risk and accelerate clinical trials, and develop diagnostics using AI trained on world-class patient data through privacy-enhancing technologies. We merge wet lab experiments with advanced AI techniques to create a powerful feedback loop for accelerated discovery and innovation in oncology, cardiovascular disease, and immunity and inflammation.
Owkin also founded MOSAIC, the world’s largest spatial multi-omics atlas for cancer research across nine cancer indications.
Owkin has raised over $300 million through investments from leading biopharma companies, including Sanofi and BMS, and venture funds like F-Prime, GV and Bpifrance, among others.
