Diagnosing rare and complex tumors can consume up to 20 percent of a pathologist's workload, often requiring hours of manual reference searching and expert consultation. Aignostics, a Berlin-based computational pathology company, has launched early access to PathoSearch, an AI-powered image search engine designed to accelerate differential diagnosis by retrieving morphologically similar, pre-diagnosed cases from a single H&E slide screenshot in minutes.

AI Foundation Model Meets Clinical Reference Library

PathoSearch is built on Atlas 2, a pathology foundation model co-developed with Mayo Clinic, and currently searches a database of more than 310,000 whole slide images spanning over 35,000 cases. The reference library covers more than 300 diagnostic entities across five organ groups aligned with the WHO Classification of Tumours. Aignostics plans to expand the database to over one million whole slide images by general availability.

According to the company, search results are tied to fully annotated cases, many of which have been confirmed by molecular testing. This validation layer is intended to provide pathologists with diagnostic confidence when evaluating challenging specimens. Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, a clinical partner, has reported that the tool enables faster and better-informed second opinions.

Platform-Embedded Distribution Strategy

Rather than operating solely as a standalone product, Aignostics is embedding PathoSearch into third-party digital pathology platforms. The first live deployment is on Techcyte Fusion AP, an image management system. This integration approach allows Aignostics to reach pathologists through existing workflow infrastructure rather than requiring adoption of a separate tool.

During the early access phase, PathoSearch is available free of charge but is limited to research use only and not approved for direct diagnostic procedures. The company has not disclosed pricing or regulatory timelines for clinical deployment.

Competitive Positioning in Computational Pathology

Founded in 2020 as a spin-off from Charité Berlin, Aignostics is backed by Mayo Clinic and other investors. The company's strategy centers on building a proprietary reference database of molecularly confirmed cases, which could serve as a competitive differentiator in the growing computational pathology market.

The launch comes as AI-powered diagnostic support tools face increasing scrutiny over validation standards and clinical integration pathways. By pursuing a research-use-only designation during early access, Aignostics can gather performance data and user feedback before navigating regulatory approval processes.

The company's stated goal is comprehensive coverage of all WHO-classified malignancies, positioning PathoSearch as a universal reference tool for pathologists encountering diagnostic uncertainty. Whether this approach can scale to meet the full spectrum of pathology practice—and whether pathologists will adopt image-based search as a routine workflow step—remains to be demonstrated as the platform moves toward general availability.

Sources

  1. Aignostics Rolls Out PathoSearch, Expanding AI-Powered Reference Search for Complex Pathology Cases — TipRanks