Season 2, Episode 2

Enhancing Decision Making in R&D with Digital Pathology

This episode's guests: John Waller

Our Guest is John Waller, PhD, Chief Operations Officer & Founder of Oracle Bio.

John has over of 15 years as a biology project leader in the pharmaceutical industry, for companies including AstraZeneca and Merck & Co. He has expertise in the integration of translational biomarkers into drug discovery programs and considerable experience in developing in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo models involving image analysis across numerous therapeutic areas.

OracleBio is a global leader in quantitative digital pathology, providing image analysis services to Pharma and Biotech clients worldwide. Leveraging multiple software platforms, the company delivers robust data packages within a quality management framework to support clinical trials and translational research. As image analysis experts, OracleBio specializes in cellular phenotyping of multiplex stained tissue and has built a strong reputation as the go-to company for complex image analysis.

Their mission is to enhance decision making within R&D by leveraging Digital Pathology to deliver robust data and actionable insights.

We are talking about the role of digital pathology in drug development and drug discovery. What are machine learning and deep learning? How are they different from artificial intelligence? And what role do they play in image analysis and digital pathology? How is Multiplexing evolving, what are its limits and how is it going to change what we do? What is the need for cloud computing in digital pathology? What are the advantages and disadvantages of putting our data and processes into the cloud?

More About John Waller

John Waller, PhD, Chief Operations Officer, Oracle Bio.

With 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including roles at AstraZeneca, Schering-Plough and Merck & Co., John co-founded Quantitative Image Analysis CRO, OracleBio. As Chief Operating Officer, he has established the company as a market leader within its field, supporting the digital pathology programs of major Pharma and Biotech companies around the globe.

John oversees the development of agile and scalable IT capabilities to keep pace with advances in digital pathology, such as the adoption of Artificial Intelligence techniques and the increased use of complex multiplex images. This has allowed the company to not only be the go-to for complex image analysis, but also enabled them to build cutting-edge IT solutions specifically designed to optimize image storage, handling, and batch processing during quantitative image analysis.”