FAQ
What is Acurion’s OncoGaze?
Acurion’s OncoGaze™ is an AI-powered platform that analyzes digital pathology slides to detect molecular biomarkers associated with cancer. Its first application focuses on identifying homologous recombination deficiency (HRD)—a key biomarker that helps guide treatment decisions. Unlike traditional methods that rely on genetic testing, OncoGaze™ uses deep learning to detect HRD directly from routine pathology images, making it a faster, more scalable, and accessible diagnostic tool. The platform is also designed to be flexible, allowing researchers and clinicians to train it to recognize other biomarkers in the future.
What is HRD?
Homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) refers to a condition in which cancer cells lose the ability to accurately repair DNA double-strand breaks. This defect – often caused by mutations in genes like BRCA1 or BRCA2, amongst many others – can lead to the accumulation of genomic errors that drive cancer progression over time. Identifying HRD is important because tumors with this deficiency are more likely to respond to specific therapies, such as PARP inhibitors and platinum treatment, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes.
How does OncoGaze improve cancer diagnostics ?
OncoGaze™ improves cancer diagnostics by dramatically increasing the accuracy and speed of detecting key biomarkers like HRD. In clinical studies, it has been shown to identify 1.8- to 3.1-times more HRD-positive patients than standard molecular tests. In addition, while genetic testing typically takes 3 to 8 weeks, OncoGaze™ delivers instantaneous results using existing pathology slides. This allows patients to start targeted treatments—such as platinum-based chemotherapy or PARP inhibitors—much sooner, which can be critical for improving outcomes. By reducing delays and increasing diagnostic reach, OncoGaze™ plays a key role in advancing personalized cancer care.
What is different about Acurion’s AI approach to cancer diagnostics?
Acurion’s AI is built on a proprietary architecture specifically designed for cancer diagnostics, developed through years of domain expertise in oncology, pathology, and machine learning. Every layer of the model is optimized to recognize the subtle and complex patterns in pathology slides that signal the presence of molecular biomarkers.
What sets Acurion apart is the depth of innovation and specialization in its technology: the company has five pending patents with over 300 distinct claims, representing a model like no other. This unique design enables highly accurate, real-time results from standard pathology slides—helping clinicians make faster, more informed treatment decisions and improving patient outcomes.
How can I integrate OncoGaze into my clinical workflow?
Integrating OncoGaze™ into your clinical workflow is simple and seamless. The platform is designed to work with standard H&E-stained pathology slides, requiring no changes to existing lab protocols or equipment. It has been extensively tested across different slide scanners and imaging formats, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of digital pathology systems.
Whether you’re working in a hospital, cancer center, or pathology lab, OncoGaze™ fits directly into your current workflow—delivering AI-powered diagnostic insights without disrupting routine processes. This allows clinicians to gain powerful biomarker information without delays, helping guide faster and more personalized treatment decisions.
How does OncoGaze, Acurion’s patented technology, help patients?
OncoGaze uses a proprietary machine learning approach to determine whether a patient’s tumor has genomic activity occurring that correlates with response to specific therapies. Moreover, it does this from the a standard digitized pathology slide. The consequence is that therapy selection is immediate and accurate and does not entail further expensive and time-consuming genomic testing. Many clinical studies have shown over the years that the more quickly patients receive therapy, the better they are likely to respond
How does OncoGaze extend to global use?
Because OncoGaze analyzes the world-standard pathologic H & E stained slide, it is accessible throughout the world. This is accentuated because, not only is the approach suitable globally, it is both cheaper and faster than standard nucleic acid-based approaches. Moreover, because the analysis is done through the cloud based on digital images of the slides, little extra equipment or expertise is needed in the on-site pathology lab.
Is OncoGaze adaptable for more than one type of cancer?
In short, the underlying AI algorithm that drives OncoGaze can be trained on appropriate sets of solid tumors and has had success with several to date. Transfer learning approaches can also be employed to accelerate these developments. Since OncoGaze depends on H & E slides (and does not require biopsy tissues), these data sets are available from clinical trials, real world data and others.
Who invented OncoGaze?
OncoGaze™ was developed through the painstaking work of oncologists, cancer geneticists, and AI experts at UC San Diego, all united by a mission to deliver better, faster, and more personalized cancer care. This collaborative team of world-renowned researchers and clinicians has combined deep domain expertise with cutting-edge technology to create a platform that transforms how cancer is diagnosed and treated.
To learn more about our team and the science behind OncoGaze™, please visit our team page or explore our news and publications
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