Leidos, University of Pittsburgh spend $10M for AI disease detection

Technology company Leidos is pouring $10 million into a plan to use AI to detect and manage diseases.

The company is working with the University of Pittsburgh’s Computational Pathology and AI Center of Excellence (CPACE) on a five-year plan to develop AI-powered tools for faster detection of diseases, including heart disease and cancer, as well as reduced diagnostic turnaround times, allowing earlier, more productive care management.

The alliance aims to establish a research hub at the University of Pittsburgh to help CPACE continue to develop its digital pathology research center and digital healthcare solutions focused on digital pathology and diagnostics, and deploy AI-powered digital pathology offerings covering the public and private healthcare sectors. 

The two entities will also conduct joint research projects to explore new imaging methods, advanced scanning technologies for analyzing tissue samples and better techniques for analyzing medical images. 

In addition, the initiative will include educational programs, symposiums and hands-on internships, during which students can work with Leidos employees. 

“Our investment is aimed at using the transformative power of artificial intelligence to speed detection, diagnosis and treatment of diseases that affect millions of people annually,” Leidos CEO Tom Bell said in a statement. 

“These efforts will also focus on developing future health care specialists and expanding the care that is available to underserved communities, including our veterans.”

THE LARGER TREND

Earlier this month, Leidos collaborated with Moveworks, an agentic AI assistant for enterprises, to increase the efficiency of government workers in the U.S., UK and Australia.

Agentic AI acts as a digital personal assistant that understands how to make decisions and automate daily work processes. 

The partnership will allow government agencies to adopt the technology with security and compliance.

Leidos announced a new capability from its sea systems team called Sea Dart, a high-performance, low-cost, flexible and adaptable uncrewed undersea vessel (UUV) to support the U.S. Navy and commercial customers across various missions. 

Leidos was awarded a $390 million National Security Agency intelligence contract to provide the NSA with signals intelligence (SIGINT) capabilities, engineering, analysis and reporting tools.