Where AI Meets Immunity: Oxford Immune Algorithmics to Launch Predictive Medicine Solution

UK-based Oxford Immune Algorithmics will launch Algocyte, an end-to-end predictive health solution that uses AI to quickly conduct blood diagnostic tests. The system is expected to come out this year\

Oxford Immune Algorithmics (OIA) will launch its Algocyte end-to-end health solution harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) for its cloud-based predictive medicine platform.

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While AI text and image generators have been gaining notoriety amid fears that they will replace humans in their jobs or are unable to provide accurate information, OIA believes that responsibly-used AI is an extremely beneficial tool that can help improve many people’s quality of life. In this application, AI can speed up diagnostic processes and allow them to be safely conducted at home.

According to OIA founder Dr Hector Zenil, an expert in AI applied to cell and molecular biology, the idea beyond Algocyte stems from his frustration over the gap between research and clinical practice while working at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The way most GP check ups have been conducted has remained the same for decades, and the lack of quantitative data results in a large amount of guesswork. It is sometimes hard to determine whether some infections are bacterial or viral, leaving the clinician guessing whether to prescribe antibiotics, contributing to various problems such as antibiotic resistance.

Dr Zenil says that using AI-enabled systems such as Algocyte can help alleviate the strain on overburdened public health systems, such as the UK’s NHS.

The Algocyte solution, which will be launched within this year, has handheld devices that will allow physicians to regularly monitor their patients’ condition through blood tests conducted on the handheld device. Each test on the Algocyte platform will use a different cartridge, each requiring a small blood sample. Using sophisticated AI algorithms, Algocyte will analyze the sample and the results will be available for both patients and physicians, allowing the latter to quickly prescribe needed treatments and help avoid complications. OIA says its first product to be released is the complete blood count test, which is the most commonly conducted laboratory test.

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“Many health systems are suffering from a lack of clinicians and nurses. Even simple medical procedures can take months before they can be done due to lack of capacity. We can pitch in by tapping computational and artificial intelligence, helping health systems better manage clinicians’ time by monitoring sick and healthy people from their own homes.”

Algocyte can also help patients that are immune-compromised by minimizing visits to the hospital to get their blood work done. Dr Zenil says that between 10% and 20% of all infections are hospital-acquired. This risk rises further for people with conditions such as cancer, due to their weakened immune systems. Even small infections can spiral out of control and become fatal.

Dr Zenil believes that the adoption of AI and cloud computing in healthcare will bring about a transformation in the healthcare system. Currently, monitoring and interventions are aimed only at sick people. But, by using technology, these can be expanded to also include healthy people, allowing them to better maintain their health.

By making diagnostics easier to access, OIA will allow individuals to create their own personal health baseline, making it easier for clinicians to detect deviations and prescribe treatments to correct them.

“The whole medical system is devoted only to those who are sick. Healthy people spend their lives without any health monitoring. And when they get sick, it’s harder to determine where the sickness came from and what needs to be fixed. The Algocyte solution’s principles are 3 Ps – personalized, precise, and predictive, and these will help transform what we call ‘sick care’ into true healthcare,” Dr Zenil says.

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