FHNW - University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland: Switzerland Launches National AI Initiative for Personalised Cancer Treatment

Cancer continues to be one of the greatest challenges of the Swiss healthcare system, according to the Global Cancer Observatory: in 2022, almost 58,000 new cases and around 20,000 deaths were registered. Despite high medical standards, treatment tailored to individual patients is often challenging – among other things due to scattered databases and a lack of collaboration between institutions. Additionally, treatment costs are constantly rising. To ensure that all affected individuals receive the best possible care in a timely manner, regardless of their location or place of treatment, closer networking is necessary.

What NAIPO aims to achieve

NAIPO is developing a digital platform that will assist doctors with AI in diagnosis and therapy decisions. It aims to improve personalised treatment for cancer patients, reduce inequalities in their access, and accelerate the discovery of new biomarkers and therapies. The basis for this is a federated learning system – a technology that allows the use of data from different hospitals without central storage, thus ensuring data protection.

Smartphone app for patients and their relatives

For instance, a smartphone app is to be developed for patients and their relatives, which translates medical reports into comprehensible language, informs about the therapy process, and supports dealing with side effects, appointments, and other aspects of treatment. 'The cooperation in so-called tumour boards – interdisciplinary teams of doctors that jointly make treatment decisions – should also be improved with the help of digital tools,' adds Prof. Dr Abdullah Kahraman, Head of the Data Science Life Sciences Group at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland and one of the coordinators within the NAIPO flagship initiative.

NAIPO will be implemented over a period of four years and is the largest nationwide initiative of its kind, with a transdisciplinary team of leading Swiss institutions working on the research and implementation. The initiative is led by the EPFL AI Center in collaboration with the ETH AI Center, the Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC), the School of Life Sciences FHNW, and the School of Information Technology FHNW of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, the University of Applied Sciences Bern, the university hospitals of Basel, Bern, Geneva, and Zurich, regional and private clinics, Roche, SOPHIA GENETICS, Switch, and Tune Insight as the main actors.

Project coordination FHNW:

University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW
School of Life Sciences
Prof. Dr Abdullah Kahraman
Head of Research Group Data Science in Life Sciences
T +41 61 228 62 23
abdullah.kahraman@fhnw.ch

Media contact FHNW:

University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW
School of Life Sciences
Pascale Rippstein
Communication
T +41 61 228 56 31
kommunikation.lifesciences@fhnw.ch

Media contact EPFL AI Center:

Mediacom, EPFL
T +41 21 693 22 22
presse@epfl.ch

University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW
Dominik Lehmann
Head of Communications FHNW
Bahnhofstrasse 6
5210 Windisch
T +41 56 202 77 28
dominik.lehmann@fhnw.ch
www.fhnw.ch