A new AI tool developed by Microsoft Research – and covered in a new Cell paper – allows researchers to study the “neighbourhood” around tumours at a new scale, which is key to predicting how cancers behave and which treatments work best.
Relying on models that can process multiple types of data, GigaTIME could help change how researchers study cancer.
Research often relies on expensive time consuming lab tests to learn how tumours develop in the body. GigaTIME turns everyday pathology slides into complex and detailed digital maps that show how immune cells interact with cancerous tumours through protein activation, enabling researchers to uncover previously invisible patterns.
In this way, GigaTIME opens opportunities to study tumour microenvironments at a scale never seen before. Traditionally, generating these types of digital maps would take days for a single sample.
By contrast, GigaTIME can simulate such analysis over dozens of proteins in seconds through computation, enabling researchers to study tens of thousands of scenarios at once.
Eventually, the tool could help identify which patients might benefit from specific treatments and improve odds for patients. It could also shed light on why some patients fail to respond and how to counter tumour resistance.
GigaTIME is publicly available as an open-source research tool on Microsoft Foundry Labs and Hugging Face. Developed in collaboration with Providence and the University of Washington, it leverages data approved for research use from a diverse cohort of more than 14,000 patients across 51 hospitals and over 1,000 clinics.
