Maria Pia Cosma

Centre de Regulació Genòmica

We have developed an artificial intelligence AI algorithm called AINU – AI of the nucleus- which can differentiate stem cells and cancer cells from normal cells, as well as detect the very early stages of viral infection inside cells. The images are obtained with a special microscopy technique called STORM, which creates a picture that captures many finer details than what regular microscopes can see. The high-definition snapshots reveal structures at nanoscale resolution. AINU detects and analyses these tiny chromatin structures inside cells at the molecular level. We trained the model by feeding it with nanoscale-resolution images of the nucleus of many different types of cells in different states. The model learned to recognize specific patterns in cells by analysing how nuclear components are distributed and arranged in threedimensional space. Our method in the future might pave the way for improved diagnostic techniques and new monitoring strategies for disease.