I-Corps: Blood analyzer to detect Bovine Respiratory Disease by using blood cell counts and morphology

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发一种便携式自动牛白色血细胞分析系统。通过扫描牛的血液涂片，拟议的技术分析饲养场中牛的健康状况，这使得兽医和生产者能够做出更明智的决定，以降低死亡率和抗生素的使用。 该技术主要旨在检测牛呼吸道疾病（BRD），通常称为“运输热”，这是影响全球肉牛的最常见和最昂贵的疾病。目前的疾病检测方法可以识别生病的牛，但只有在它们表现出症状之后，有时候已经太晚了，无法完全恢复。所提出的技术可以通过血液分析提供快速和准确的牛健康评估，以实现早期发现牛的疾病，甚至在症状出现之前进行选择性治疗。这种拟议的诊断可能会减少饲养场抗生素的管理，并显着减少日常检查的劳动时间，最终导致降低成本，由于牛死亡和疾病。I-Corps项目的基础是开发一种使用AI识别模型和软件工具对牛血涂片图像进行识别的血液分析仪。该技术旨在检测牛呼吸道疾病（BRD）。目前，有抗生素，疫苗和其他药物来治疗BRD，然而，知道何时使用这些治疗方法可以提高治疗效果和成本效益。其他疾病检测仪器采用基于牛呼吸道疾病相关症状的生物标志物，而所提出的技术直接从血细胞水平分析免疫系统强度。通过使用AI自动测量来自血液涂片显微图像的差异白色血细胞计数，该系统计算出白色血细胞的比率，作为诊断病牛的标志，具有高置信度。 血细胞统计学，如嗜酸性粒细胞淋巴细胞比率（ELR）是免疫系统强度的良好指标，可用于预测BRD感染。 这种解决方案可以在任何视觉症状出现之前检测到免疫系统的损害，并允许更多的时间进行治疗，以便以受控的方式使用小剂量的抗生素，同时在BRD产生永久性损伤之前保持牛的健康。 该计划是开发台式系统以及智能手机上的移动的系统，以满足各种需求并满足所需的速度。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a portable automated white blood cell (WBC) analysis system for cattle. By scanning bovine blood smears, the proposed technology analyzes the health status of cattle in feedlots, which allows veterinarians and producers to make more informed decisions to reduce the death rate and antibiotic use. The technology primarily is aimed at detecting Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD), commonly known as the “shipping fever,” which is the most common and costly disease affecting beef cattle worldwide. Current disease detection methods can identify sick cattle, but only after they’ve shown symptoms, which is sometimes too late to recover fully. The proposed technology may offer quick and accurate cattle health assessment through blood analysis to achieve early detection of disease in cattle for selective treatment even before symptoms appear. This proposed diagnostic may decrease the administration of antibiotics in feedlots and significantly reduce labor hours for daily inspection, ultimately leading to reduced costs due to cattle death and illness. It also may provide a healthier product for consumers.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a blood analyzer using an AI recognition model and software tool on bovine blood smear images. The proposed technology is aimed at detecting Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD). Currently, there are antibiotics, vaccines, and other medication to treat BRD, however, knowing when to use these treatments can improve the treatment effectiveness and cost efficiency. Other disease detection instruments employ biomarkers based on the symptoms related to Bovine Respiratory Disease while the proposed technology analyzes the immune system strength directly from the blood cell levels. By automatically measuring the differential white blood cell counts from blood smear microscopic images using AI, the system calculates the ratio of white blood cells as a marker for diagnosing sick cattle with high confidence. Blood cell statistics such as Eosinophil Lymphocyte Ratio (ELR) are good indicators of immune system strength and may be employed to predict BRD infection. This solution may detect compromise in the immune system before any visual symptoms develop and allow more time for treatment in order to use antibiotics in a controlled manner with small dosage while keeping the cattle healthy before BRD produces permanent damage. The plan is to develop benchtop systems as well as mobile systems on smartphones to satisfy various needs and to meet the speed required. The principles and biometrics may be translated to other animals and human medicine.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.