In sunny Dundee, SINAPSE researchers interested in the application of image processing and analysis methods in medical research gathered for the first SINAPSE topic group meeting held as a pre-ASM satellite event.

The full-day workshop was organised around hands-on training provided by NVIDIA on deep learning for medical image analysis, and began with an introductory lecture on the fundamentals of deep learning for computer vision presented by Jonny Hancox, NVIDIA Deep Learning Solution Architect. Workshop participants spent the rest of the morning on their laptops, following Jonny’s guidance in learning to architect and train a convolutional neural network for medical image classification.

After lunch, Jonny delivered a lecture on more advanced deep learning topics, including applications of generative adversarial networks for medical imaging data augmentation and segmentation. The programme then shifted to talks from SINAPSE members, beginning with a presentation from Dr Jianguo Zhang (University of Dundee) on his work developing machine learning algorithms for brain lesion segmentation. Next were 3 Minute Thesis style “blitz presentations” from three PhD students working on image analysis projects: Fraser Sneden (University of Glasgow), Mohammad Ghouse Syed (University of Dundee), and Jacob Carse (University of Dundee). The top prize of a £150 travel bursary was awarded to Jacob Carse for his clear and concise presentation on deep active learning to reduce the number of data annotations a model needs to train with.

The last session of the day featured presentations from SINAPSE image analysts: Dr Michele Svanera (University of Glasgow) presented on a fully volumetric deep learning approach to MRI brain segmentation, Dr John McLean (University of Glasgow and NHS Great Glasgow & Clyde) addressed leveraging big data for patient benefit, and Stephen Hogg and Muthu Mookiah (University of Dundee) spoke about progressing retinal vasculature analysis through the VAMPIRE initiative. The workshop closed with a drinks reception in the Medical Marvels exhibit at the nearby Dundee Science Centre.

 

All researchers around Scotland who have an interest in medical image analysis are welcomed to join us in the SINAPSE Image Analysis topic group!