BOSTON, MA, August 2, 2018 – Invicro LLC, a Konica Minolta company and a leading provider of imaging services and software for research and drug development, today announced the appointment of Brian Avants, Ph.D. as Senior Director of Machine Learning.
Backed by more than 20 years of biomedical data analytics expertise, Dr. Avants will lead the strategic efforts to expand Invicro’s machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. As an interdisciplinary scientist with a focus on neuro MR, Dr. Avants has broadly explored the synergies between machine learning, brain mapping and mathematical modeling. Dr. Avants will utilize this expertise in developing computational and algorithmic advances to enhance Invicro’s imaging and data analytics platform. Within a single platform, Pharma and biotech customers will value a robust solution that combines leading data management and domain knowledge modeling methods with state-of-the-art ML and AI tools, bolstering Invicro’s analysis solutions in oncology, neuro, pulmonary, and other therapeutic areas. Dr. Avants will be an integral contributor to the Konica Minolta’s global AI team, to ensure there is ongoing collaboration and alignment with Invicro.
“Invicro is fortunate to have someone with Brian’s high-caliber of analysis experience and knowledge to join the team,” stated Jacob Hesterman, Ph.D., Founding Partner and Head of R&D at Invicro. “Combining Brian’s MR and machine learning expertise with our industry leading PET analysis capabilities, uniquely positions Invicro as the global premier service provider of PET and MR analysis for imaging biomarkers.”
Most recently, Dr. Avants was the Associate Director, Translational and Advanced Analytics at Biogen, where he worked on multiple modality longitudinal brain mapping for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. Prior to Biogen, Dr. Avants was an Assistant Professor of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania.
“I’m excited to join the dynamic team at Invicro,” said Dr. Avants. “This opportunity allows me to leverage my passion for neuro mapping and machine learning that will provide our customers an advanced platform with revolutionary technologies and innovative AI solutions.”
Dr. Avants holds a B.A. in Physics from New College of Florida, a M.S. in Computer Science and a Ph.D. in Bioengineering both from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Avants has been consistently recognized and honored for his research, publications and overall contributions to biomedical image quantification and open science. He is lead developer of Advanced Normalization Tools (ANTs), ANTsR and ANTsPy which, together, form a state-of-the-art framework for integrative analysis and interpretation of imaging and related data.
About Invicro
With headquarters in Boston, MA, Invicro was founded in 2008 with the mission of improving the role and function of imaging in translational drug discovery and development across all therapeutic areas. Invicro’s multi-disciplinary team provides a full range of image informatics, engineering and operational services. Originally focused on imaging in discovery phase, in 2016 Invicro expanded its offering in clinical phase research with the acquisition of Molecular Neuroimaging, LLC, followed by the acquisition of Imanova and CORE Clinical in 2017. Now as part of the Konica Minolta precision medicine organization and with their sister company Ambry Genetics, Invicro develops and leverages the latest approaches in quantitative biomarkers including imaging, quantitative pathology and genomics. The successful integration of the discovery and clinical teams onto Invicro’s industry-leading software informatics platforms, VivoQuant®® and iPACS®, has inspired a strong and growing presence in the pre-clinical to late-phase clinical markets. For more information, visit www.invicro.com.
About Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta, Inc. (Konica Minolta) is a global digital technology company with core strengths in imaging and data analysis, optics, materials, and nano-fabrication. Through innovation, Konica Minolta creates products and digital solutions for the betterment of business and society—today and for generations to come. Across its Business Technologies, Healthcare, and Industrial-facing businesses, the company aspires to be an Integral Value Provider that applies the full range of its expertise to offer comprehensive solutions to the customer’s most pressing problems, works with the partners to ensure the solutions are sustainable, anticipates and addresses tomorrow’s issues, and tailors each solution to meet the unique and specific needs of its valued customers. Leveraging these capabilities, Konica Minolta contributes to productivity improvement and workflow change for its customers, and provides leading-edge service solutions in the IoT era. Headquartered in Tokyo and with operations in more than 50 countries, Konica Minolta has more than 43,000 employees serving approximately two million customers in over 150 countries. Konica Minolta is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, (TSE4902). For further information, visit: www.konicaminolta.com
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Media Contact:
Amanda Harrell
VP, Global Marketing
media@invicro.com