Selvita, a European preclinical contract research organization, signed a grant agreement with the National Centre for Research and Development for the development of a cell-based phenotypic platform based on high-content imaging systems integrated with AI data for multiple therapeutic areas. The grant will be executed in a consortium with Ardigen, a bioinformatics company that leverages AI methods for precision medicine applications.

The platform will be used to study phenotypic changes in cells treated with drug candidates, using machine learning and AI to analyze the high-content screens. Selvita will be responsible for the development of two sets of cellular tests from therapeutic areas -- neuroinflammatory and fibrotic diseases -- that can generate images for AI systems analysis. Ardigen will develop an advanced computer vision platform for fast and precise inference on images streaming from the high-content screening platform, according to the company.

The grant provides Selvita and Ardigen with nearly $114 million of nondilutive financing. The total net value of the project will exceed $200 million and is expected to be completed with the next three years.