ZEGAMI HAS BEEN CHOSEN BY THE INSTITUTE OF MYOLOGY TO SUPPORT ONE OF THE LARGEST DATABASES OF MUSCLE BIOPSY IMAGES IN THE WORLD AS IT BECOMES AVAILABLE TO A WIDER COMMUNITY OF MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHERS

Zegami, the Oxford University data visualisation spin-out, has been chosen by the “Association Institut de Myologie” acting on behalf of the Institute of Myology, a translational research centre dedicated to the muscle gathering researchers, engineers and doctors (Association Institut de Myologie,  Sorbonne University, INSERM and AP-HP) in Paris, to support its unique Muscle Atlas, which is now being made available to wider global medical and scientific communities. 

The Atlas contains over 4,000 muscle biopsy images from people of different ages as well as animals. It includes images that are both normal and pathologic (caused by morbidity or disease) with staining to enhance contrast in samples at a microscopic level.  Up until now, much of the global data and knowledge on the differences between muscle types - both normal and pathological – has been restricted to a small subset of researchers and specialised physicians.

All human cases have a complete morphological and genetic characterization.

Bruno Cadot, Group leader and Head of the Imaging Facility, at Institute of Myology said: “Our data will help foster research on skeletal muscle and facilitate physiopathological assessments. In the era of AI-based detection of physiological defects in patients’ biopsies, it will provide valuable material for the development of AI-based tools by other researchers from around the world. This is a key reason why we are now inviting other researchers to participate in using our Muscle Atlas.

“With so much data and visuals, a strong data visualization proposition is key to helping us and other researchers identify key themes - and do so more quickly.  We are looking forward to working with Zegami on this project.” 

Roger Noble, CEO and founder of Zegami: “Med-tech makes up the largest part of our business and we are very excited to be working on such an important project. With so many images of different muscles and with the Atlas growing, strong data visualization tools are key to helping the scientific and medical communities to make the most out of this.”

Zegami launched out of Oxford University in 2016.  It is currently exploring new ideas and making new discoveries for 35 clients and counting, across an ever-growing variety of sectors.