(1002-C) A Next-Generation, Cloud-based Viral Infectivity Assay for Rapid, High-Throughput Screening of Vaccines and Antivirals
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EST
Location: Exhibit Halls AB
Abstract: ViQi, Inc. presents AVIA™ (Automated Viral Infectivity Assay), a groundbreaking assay that significantly accelerates the rate of high-throughput screening for viral infectivity. Employing computer vision machine learning algorithms on brightfield images, AVIA™ identifies phenotypic cellular changes indicative of viral infection within hours, instead of days. This rapid identification eliminates the need for extensive sample preparation, fluorescent labeling, or user-guided parameter tuning, thereby increasing the assay's objectivity, while decreasing the hands-on time required and cost. Cells are grown and infected on 96-well plates, and imaged live in brightfield on any automated plate imager with a 20x objective. The images are uploaded to ViQi's cloud platform, and assay results are available within the hour.
Our cloud-based platform automates the training of a re-usable AI model with as few as three 96-well training plates. This AI is then capable of processing multiple plates containing varying infection conditions and replicates. The result is a quantitative infectivity measurement similar to a plaque assay in each well of a 96-well plate, but without overlays, manual counting or extensive incubation times. The assay's precision is typically within 10% rather than within 0.5 log typical of traditional methods. The throughput and samples per plate can be 8-16 times greater than traditional TCID50 assays. Initial AI training reports are generated within a day, and assay-specific reports are returned in under an hour.
We have successfully trained AI models on more than 12 different viruses including DNA, RNA, enveloped and non-enveloped viruses, and including viruses that do not produce manually observable cytopathic effects like HIV and Adenovirus. AVIA is hosted on ViQi's cloud-based analysis platform, which includes workflow management and data visualization tools, so it does not require any specialized computing hardware or any software installed locally other than a web browser. AVIA™ offers a reproducible, and rapid solution for automated viral infectivity assays at scale.