XAI Winter School 2025 Successfully Connected Brno and Graz
From January 6 to 10, 2025, the Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute and the Faculty of Informatics at Masaryk University in Brno, in collaboration with the Medical University of Graz, hosted the Winter School focused on using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in digital pathology. Following the success of the Summer School in September 2024, this event attracted 26 participants, far exceeding the organizers' expectations and highlighting the growing importance of AI in medicine.
The first part of the program took place in Brno, where participants explored topics such as the benefits and challenges of digital pathology, the use of AI tools in diagnostics, and key principles of data management. They engaged in hands-on workshops covering work with whole-slide images, annotation creation, and applying advanced technologies like Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Models (LLMs) to extract structured data from clinical datasets.
On Wednesday afternoon, participants travelled to Graz. There, they toured state-of-the-art digital pathology facilities, attended lectures on international certifications such as the In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR), and participated in discussions about infrastructure management and standards in digital pathology.
The Winter School once again emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary education in advancing medical AI. Participants' strong interest and active engagement provide a solid foundation for further innovations and collaboration in this critical field.
"The aim of the winter school was to connect pathologists and computer scientists, fostering mutual understanding—pathologists could see what technology offers, and computer scientists gained insight into their needs. The hands-on experience with AI systems in real conditions was crucial. The BioMedAI project provided our institute with invaluable know-how from Graz, where they recently launched a fully digital pathology workflow," said Rudolf Nenutil from MOÚ.
Program Highlights
- Expert Lectures: Renowned specialists covered topics such as AI explainability, regulatory requirements, and the future of digital pathology.
- Hands-On Experience: Workshops equipped participants with skills in preparing and analyzing pathological data, ready to be applied in their practice.
- International Collaboration: The event fostered networking and collaboration between participants and experts from leading institutions in Brno and Graz.
Author: Lucie Skřičková, MUNI ICS
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