Tag Archive for: Michael Shoykhet

New AI platform accelerates brain inflammation research 10,000-fold

illustration of neurons

A new AI tool developed by Children’s National and Howard University analyzes brain immune cells 10,000x faster than manual methods.

A new Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence tool from researchers at Children’s National Hospital (CNH) and Howard University (HU) accelerates discoveries in brain inflammation. Called StainAI, it rapidly and accurately analyzes microglia, the brain’s immune cells. Scientists currently analyze microglia slowly by hand. StainAI automates this process and speeds it up 10,000-fold. Its use will aid discovery of new treatments for inflammatory brain conditions such as infection, autoimmunity, and aging.

Solving a problem

Traditionally, scientists study microglia one cell at a time. They reconstruct each cell’s shape by hand under a microscope. The shape helps classify microglia as “resting” (normal) or “activated” (inflamed). The manual process is tedious and slow. It limits analyses to a few microglia in small brain areas.

StainAI changes that. It uses deep machine learning and artificial intelligence to overcome and exceed the manual method’s limitations. It correctly classifies millions of microglia from standard microscopic images. StainAI also localizes each microglia to its brain region in 3D. These features enable single-cell analyses of immune activity at a scale not feasible before – the entire brain.

A tool with broad impact

The team applied StainAI to two models of brain injury and inflammation to show its utility. In a rodent model of pediatric cardiac arrest, StainAI identified new brain regions susceptible to injury. In a simian model of viral infection, StainAI localized rod-shaped microglia normally found in white matter to an unexpected brain region – the hippocampus.  These findings point towards new treatments and highlight StainAI’s value across diseases and species.

StainAI is fast, accurate and adaptable. It uses common laboratory equipment. Its creators, Michael Shoykhet, MD, PhD, at CNH and Dr. Tsang-Wei Tu at HU, are making StainAI available to other researchers. They hope StainAI will help labs worldwide discover new ways to protect children’s brains from inflammation and injury.

You can read the full article, StainAI: quantitative mapping of stained microglia and insights into brain-wide neuroinflammation and therapeutic effects in cardiac arrest, in Communications Biology, a Nature group journal.

Children’s National Hospital at the 2021 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting

Attending the 2021 Pediatric Academic Societies meeting this week? There will be over 20 Children’s National Hospital-affiliated participants at this year’s meeting. We have compiled their sessions into a mini schedule:

Name Program/Department Session and role Date Time
Taeun Chang, M.D.  Neonatal Neurology and Neurocritical Care Program PAS Postgraduate Course: Neonatal Neurology: HIE-focused Project-Based (Chair) Friday, 30 April

 

9:00 AM –
4:00 PM
CT
Taeun Chang, M.D. Neonatal Neurology and Neurocritical Care Program PAS Postgraduate Course: Neonatal Neurology: HIE-focused Project-Based (Presenter) Friday, 30 April 9:30 AM – 10:00 AM
CT
Yuan-Chiao Lu, Ph.D. Developing Brain Research Laboratory Cardiology Poster: Care of the Fetus and Newborn with CHD (Presenter) Saturday, May 1 4:30 PM – 4:45 PM
CT
Chidiogo Anyigbo, M.D., M.P.H. General and Community Pediatrics Poster: Health Services Research I (Presenter)

 

Saturday, May 1 5:15 PM – 5:30 PM
CT
Panagiotis Kratimenos, M.D. Neonatology Platform (moderator) Saturday, May 1 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM
CT
Sudeepta Basu, MBBS, MS Neonatology Hot Topic Symposia: The Neurological Implications of Abnormal Glycemia in Neonatal Encephalopathy and Prematurity (Chair) Sunday, May 2 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
CT
Sudeepta Basu, MBBS, MS Neonatology Hot Topic Symposia: The Neurological Implications of Abnormal Glycemia in Neonatal Encephalopathy and Prematurity (Presenter) Sunday, May 2 9:55 AM – 10:15 AM
CT
Ashraf Harahsheh, M.D., F.A.C.C., F.A.A.P.

 

Cardiology Cardiology: Heart Disease in the Older Child Sunday, May 2 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
CT
Rana F. Hamdy, M.D., MPH, MSCE Infectious Diseases

 

Expanding Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship: Practical Strategies, Novel Settings, and Sociobehavioral Influences (Presenter) Sunday, May 2 10:15 AM – 10:30 AM
CT
Rana F. Hamdy, M.D., MPH, MSCE Infectious Diseases

 

Hot Topic Debates: Antibiotic Use in Hospitalized Children (Chair) Sunday, May 2 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
CT
John Idso, M.D. Critical Care Poster: Resuscitation and Potpourri (presenter) Sunday, May 2 2:20 PM – 2:30 PM
CT
Michael Shoykhet, M.D., Ph.D. Critical Care Medicine

 

Critical Care Poster: Resuscitation and Potpourri (presenter) Sunday, May 2 2:20 PM – 2:30 PM
CT
Panagiotis Kratimenos, M.D. Neonatology Neonatal Neurology: Basic & Translational I (moderator) Sunday, May 2

 

4:30 PM – 6:00 PM
CT
Monika Goyal, M.D. Emergency Medicine and Trauma Services Injury Prevention (moderator) Sunday, May 2 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
CT
Ioannis Koutroulis, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A. Genetic Medicine Research

 

Emergency Medicine III (moderator) Tuesday, May 4 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
CT
Sudeepta Basu, MBBS, MS Neonatology Neonatal Neurology: Clinical: HIE and Other Insults (moderator) Tuesday, May 4 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM
CT
Josepheen De Asis-Cruz, M.D., Ph.D. Center for the Developing Brain Neonatal Neurology: Clinical: HIE and Other Insults (presenter) Tuesday, May 4 4:30 PM – 4:45 PM
CT
Asad Bandealy, M.D., MPH
Priti Bhansali, M.D. Monika Goyal, M.D.
Sabah Iqbal, M.D. Kavita Parikh, M.D. Shilpa Patel, M.D.
Workshop. ThisIsSTILLOurLane: Protect Kids, Not Guns Monday, May 10 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
CT
Cara Lichtenstein, M.D. General and Community Pediatrics APA Injury Control/Advocacy Training Combined SIG (SIG Chair) Monday, May 10 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
CT
Terry Kind, M.D., MPH General and Community Pediatrics

 

APA Women in Medicine / Qualitative Research Combined SIG (SIG Chair) Wednesday, May 12 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
CT

Phase I: April-30-May 4 and Phase II: May 10-June 4

PAS 2021 Virtual Schedule