Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Sight Diagnostics will collaborate on a new study to examine morphological changes that occur in white blood cells of coronavirus patients, in order to detect early deterioration of their health status.
The new study, which will be made possible thanks to the blood samples held within the large biobank set up by Shaare Zedek Hospital and tested using the Sight OLO device, is the result of a research collaboration agreement signed this week between the two parties.
"We welcome the expansion of our collaboration with Sight, and hope for beneficial results in the joint experiment," said Renee Ofan, VP of Research and Innovation at Shaare Zedek. "The agreement signed this week reflects many years of cooperation between the medical center and Sight, also in the company's main area of activity in the development of a blood counting device."
The research will be carried out using Sight's flagship device, the Sight OLO, which is a significant breakthrough in the field of artificial intelligence, image processing technology and blood diagnostics. OLO allows a complete blood count (CBC) test to be performed very easily and quickly, using only two drops of blood taken from the finger.
The combination of the largest sample database in the country established by Shaare Zedek and Sight's advanced device capabilities will help identify deterioration processes as early as possible among coronavirus patients having disease itself or secondary diseases, thus enabling accurate and rapid treatment.
"Expanding the collaboration also for coronavirus's research is a natural continuation of a long-standing partnership between Shaare Zedek and Sight," continued Ofan.
At Shaare Zedek Medical Center, hundreds of tests are performed every day that can provide a fertile ground for technological and groundbreaking developments.
Sight is determined to continue providing rapid and accurate blood tests to assist healthcare professionals in diagnosing and treating patients around the world, through the application of technological innovation in blood diagnosis.
"OLO's technology combines computer vision and artificial intelligence with 'digitization' of blood samples for more than a thousand high-resolution images," says Yossi Polak, CEO and founder of Sight.
"We believe in the ability of our technology to help diagnose and manage infectious diseases – and we will continue to work in that direction," he said.