Imageomics - the Latest 'omic Technology
Biological data comes in many forms. For the past 20 years, much of the attention has focussed on genomics because on the the fundamental role that genes play in disease. Today genetic tests are commonly used as a diagnostic; but these tests remain relatively expensive and inconvenient.
In parallel other 'omic disciplines such as proteomics, metabolomics and epigenomics have provided context to genomic information - often providing additional clinical insights which have added to our ability to diagnose and manage disease.
Imageomics provides yet further context to the expanding 'omics field: While the structures seen in medical images are obviously at a far larger scale, they ultimately reflect underlying genomic, proteomic, metabolic and epigenetic processes.
In ophthalmology for example, it is possible to measure the distance between any of the 15 layers of the retina, from images like those above. Abnormal measurements might be signs of an underlying disease, which can often become apparent years before the disease becomes clinically evident. Early signs of renal, brain and cardiovascular disease have all been found in images like these.
What's more, these traits can be detected cheaply and conveniently using equipment found in doctors offices or, in this example, a high street opticians.
But extracting information from images is very resource intensive. Therefore a central part of imageomics is the ability to use artificial intelligence to automate the analysis of images at scale. This is technically complex and computationally demanding, requiring very high quality and carefully curated real-world data, such as that found within RAIR's broader Oculair™ solution.
Nonetheless, when used in combination with other 'omics technologies, imageomics promises to help build a more complete picture of health and provide a convenient way of diagnosing patients earlier. In due course, imageomics may also identify novel biomarkers of disease which might be used to better manage patients or even serve as drug targets in their own right.
RAIR's Imageomics Workflow
RAIR Health has built a clinical image processing workflow which, together with algorithms written for Oculair™, can assist researchers in image-based clinical fields to spot hidden patterns and associations between a range of 'omic datasets, which might have valuable clinical applications.
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