Partnership enables faster, high quality decision-making for scientists
Cambridge, MA, USA and Munich, Germany - November 15, 2006 - Definiens AG, the number one Enterprise Image Intelligence™ company and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) today announced a partnership to improve technologies for high-content and high-throughput image analysis, addressing the challenges faced in biology, medicine and bioengineering. The Whitehead Institute-MIT BioImaging Center is known for uniting the power of highly evolved microscopy and advanced computational systems to study the structure, dynamics and function of molecules. By joining forces, MIT and Definiens® will increase the insight into the most complex issues in biology today.
Under the terms of the agreement, MIT will deploy Definiens Enterprise Image Intelligence Suite of products, including Definiens Cellenger®. They will enable MIT to perform powerful image analysis throughout the whole organisation by providing the scalability and processing power required to automate and control data-intensive image analysis challenges. The collaboration will support the integration of the various components of the imaging supply chain in biological research. The Definiens Enterprise Image Intelligence Suite of products enables image analysis of terabytes of image data from multiple sources, and is a perfect match to support the broad range of requirements at MIT.
"Images are rich in information and should provide useful details regarding the biological system being studied," commented Paul Matsudaira, Whitehead Member and Director of the Whitehead Institute-MIT BioImaging Center. "Image analysis software is needed to quantify subtle details in light and electron microscopy images. For systems biology applications, large numbers of measurements are required from a wide variety of experimental conditions, which requires software to efficiently handle large amounts of data. We look forward to deploying the Definiens Enterprise Image Intelligence Suite of products to fulfil our image analysis requirements."
MIT will implement the Definiens Enterprise Image Intelligence Suite of products in the Whitehead Institute-MIT BioImaging Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA for use by and demonstration to the MIT community. MIT will also enable industry representatives with commercial interests to view, evaluate and explore the solution onsite.
Definiens will consult with MIT regarding new software products and intends to accommodate MIT's special requirements including facilitating connections between platforms and data visualization in the software development process.
"Partnering with MIT underscores Definiens' commitment to work closely with the extensive MIT research community and biological ecosystem to provide the technology and facilitate the development of innovative applications that leverage the Definiens Enterprise Image Intelligence platform," said Dr. Wolfgang Rencken, Vice President Technology and Products at Definiens AG. "We are looking forward to collaborating with MIT to deliver best of breed products that reduce costs by automating image-intensive processes and enable qualified decisions to be made faster."
Definiens Cellenger
Definiens Cellenger is a flexible and platform-independent enterprise solution designed to automate and standardize cell image analysis tailored to specific assays. It creates much deeper insight into image data, while providing a simple yet flexible environment to support and accelerate the drug development process. Definiens Cellenger integrates seamlessly within any Definiens Enterprise Image Intelligence product and complements all workflows; whether they be assay development, screening or informatics. It is the first platform independent high-content analysis software, bridging the gaps between different vendors and platforms, enabling standardisation of assays across the enterprise.
Definiens Cellenger contains highly robust detection and classification algorithms which provide accurate multi-dimensional segmentation of objects, even with heterogeneous cell populations or of imperfect images that were taken under poor conditions. Multiple image analysis experiments can be performed in parallel and export data can be configured to contain the results of one experiment conditional to the results of another, resulting in much higher data confidence levels.
Built on the unique, patented Definiens Cognition Network Technology, Definiens Cellenger enables organizations to go beyond the simple measurement of objects by shape and intensity to the quantification of complex relationships between objects, revealing subtle biological effects. Definiens Cellenger has open interfaces and formats and, as with all Definiens products, is designed to seamlessly integrate within existing infrastructures, complementing rather than replacing existing investments in software and hardware.
About the Whitehead Institute-MIT BioImaging Center
The Whitehead Institute-MIT BioImaging Center brings together a diverse and distinguished group of MIT biology, chemistry, computer science, and bioengineering faculty, along with research scientists, graduate students, and post-docs, all with a common belief: that complex cellular processes can best be understood by seeing with sophisticated imaging techniques, and then understanding the images through powerful computational methods.
The BioImaging Center seeks to expand the frontiers of molecular imaging by building and beta-testing new instruments, applying powerful computational models to acquired data, and advancing commercial and clinical applications. Collaborative, curious, and committed, the BioImaging Center is a valuable resource to the global research community.
Further information is available at http://bioimaging.wi.mit.edu.
Learn more about MIT's Computational & Systems Biology Initiative (CSBi) at http://csbi.mit.edu.
About Definiens AG
Definiens is the number one Enterprise Image Intelligence company for analyzing and interpreting images on every scale, from microscopic cell structures to satellite images. Definiens patented Cognition Network technology has been developed by Nobel Laureate, Prof. Dr. Gerd Binnig and serves as the base of the Definiens eCognition™ platform. The advanced and robust platform is designed to fulfill the image analysis demands of the Earth Sciences and Life Sciences markets.
Definiens in Life Sciences
Definiens' technology helps pharmaceutical companies to improve safety and reduce risk, attrition and time-to-market in the drug development process. It enables organizations to analyze and correlate image information along the entire drug development chain, supporting strategic initiatives such as translational science. As an R&D tool, it identifies more candidates, increasing quality while reducing costs. It vastly simplifies assay development and substantially increases the yield of pertinent information. In the pre-clinical phase, Definiens' technology delivers faster results with greater consistency at lower cost. It automates pre-screening, providing consistent, qualified and quantified information from cell and tissue images.
Definiens is headquartered in Munich, Germany and has offices in the United Kingdom and throughout the United States. Further information is available at www.definiens.com.
Definiens, Definiens Cellenger, Definiens Cognition Network Technology, Definiens eCognition, Enterprise Image Intelligence, We Understand Images, Cellenger MVA, Definiens Polymind, Polysoph, amaccs, Definiens Cognitionware, Definiens Arraylogic, WeaverWare and fractal life are trademarks or registered trademarks of Definiens AG in Germany and/or its subsidiaries in other countries. All other names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
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