PictorLabs, Inc., a digital pathology company developing an AI-powered virtual staining platform to revolutionize histopathology and accelerate clinical research with the goal of improving patient outcomes, today announced it has completed a funding round of $15.2 million led by M Ventures. SCC Soft Computer and Koç Holding. Since its inception in 2019, PictorLabs has raised $18.8 million to commercialize virtual staining and reinvent the future of histopathology. Developed by PictorLabs co-founders Aydogan Ozcan, Ph.D., UCLA Chancellor’s Professor, and Yair Rivenson, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Technology Officer, PictorLabs, the company’s technology applies deep learning algorithms to analyze tissues in stain silico efficiently and accurately, creating virtual stains almost instantly. From a single unstained tissue sample, PictorLabs’ proprietary platform can generate an unlimited number of virtual stains that are indistinguishable from analogous chemical stains.
Current histopathology practices have remained largely unchanged for decades and involve complex, chemical-based tissue staining procedures with many challenges, including prolonged time to result, limitations in tissue sampling, inconsistent quality of results, and generation of chemical waste, complicating research and patient diagnosis and can delay. PictorLabs’ novel approach enables the generation of unlimited virtual stains from a single unstained tissue sample – eliminating the need for chemical staining, reducing time to result, and enabling repeated biomarker testing without the need for multiple tissue samples.
“The PictorLabs platform overcomes inherent problems in histopathology by applying AI-powered algorithms that generate virtual stains that are indistinguishable from their chemistry-based counterparts. By virtual staining of tissue images in the digital realm, our approach simplifies and accelerates workflows, accelerating drug discovery and diagnostic decision-making with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes. With the support of our experienced investors, we are now well-positioned to systematically expand our platform,” said Dr. Rivenson.
To date, PictorLabs has demonstrated successful virtual staining for several well-validated disease biomarkers and is pursuing additional opportunities in disease areas with high unmet needs. PictorLabs will leverage this latest funding round to expand its biomarker portfolio, develop novel products, expand the company’s talent base and expand its corporate infrastructure.
“At M Ventures, we are excited by the results of PictorLabs’ virtual staining technology, which validate the broad research potential of its best-in-class platform and existing healthcare paradigm to better support the needs of researchers, clinicians and, most importantly, patients,” said Dr. Bauke Anninga, Director by M Ventures.
“We are pleased that PictorLabs is driving this next-generation virtual staining technology,” said Melih Poyraz, Strategy and Business Development Director at Koç Holding. “Leaded by their talented team of experienced engineers, physicians, scientists and entrepreneurs who have a proven track record of bringing medical technologies to market, we look forward to seeing PictorLabs advance their novel technology to improve and grow that.” accelerate workflow in histopathology.”
Recently, as part of their sustainability initiatives, PictorLabs partnered with Charles River Laboratories to reduce water usage and chemical waste through the introduction of PictorLabs virtual staining technology – demonstrating the rigor of PictorLabs’ technology in a highly productive research environment.
