The Tissue Image Analytics (TIA) Centre hosts a seminar series for those interested in computational pathology. The series invites researchers and leaders in computational pathology and related fields to present their work and foster thought-provoking discussions.

This seminar features Dr Sahar Almahfouz Nasser from Emory University, USA.

Abstract

Despite significant progress in computational pathology, many AI models remain black-box and difficult to interpret, posing a major barrier to clinical adoption due to limited transparency and explainability. This has motivated continued interest in engineered image-based biomarkers, which offer greater interpretability but are often proposed based on anecdotal evidence or fragmented prior literature rather than systematic biological validation. We introduce SAGE (Structured Agentic system for hypothesis Generation and Evaluation), an agentic AI system designed to identify interpretable, engineered pathology biomarkers by grounding them in biological evidence. SAGE integrates literature-anchored reasoning with multi-modal data analysis to correlate image-derived features with molecular biomarkers, such as gene expression, and clinically relevant outcomes. By coordinating specialized agents for biological contextualization and empirical hypothesis validation, SAGE prioritizes transparent, biologically supported biomarkers and advances the clinical translation of computational pathology.

Bio

Dr. Sahar Almahfouz Nasser is a postdoctoral researcher at Emory University’s Madabhushi Lab, working at the intersection of computational pathology, agentic AI, and translational oncology. She is the creator of SAGE, an agentic framework for biologically grounded and clinically translatable biomarker discovery, with a focus on interpretable and trustworthy AI for cancer care. She is a recipient of the Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship, and her work has been published in leading AI and medical imaging venues.