_version_ 1866908695337631744
author Verma, Ruchika
Kandoi, Shrishtee
Afzal, Robina
Chen, Shengjia
Jegminat, Jannes
Karlovich, Michael W.
Umphlett, Melissa
Richardson, Timothy E.
Clare, Kevin
Hossain, Quazi
Samanamud, Jorge
Faust, Phyllis L.
Louis, Elan D.
McKee, Ann C.
Stein, Thor D.
Cherry, Jonathan D.
Mez, Jesse
McGoldrick, Anya C.
Mora, Dalilah D. Quintana
Nirenberg, Melissa J.
Walker, Ruth H.
Mendez, Yolfrankcis
Morgello, Susan
Dickson, Dennis W.
Murray, Melissa E.
Cordon-Cardo, Carlos
Tsankova, Nadejda M.
Walker, Jamie M.
Dangoor, Diana K.
McQuillan, Stephanie
Thorn, Emma L.
De Sanctis, Claudia
Li, Shuying
Fuchs, Thomas J.
Farrell, Kurt
Crary, John F.
Campanella, Gabriele
author_facet Verma, Ruchika
Kandoi, Shrishtee
Afzal, Robina
Chen, Shengjia
Jegminat, Jannes
Karlovich, Michael W.
Umphlett, Melissa
Richardson, Timothy E.
Clare, Kevin
Hossain, Quazi
Samanamud, Jorge
Faust, Phyllis L.
Louis, Elan D.
McKee, Ann C.
Stein, Thor D.
Cherry, Jonathan D.
Mez, Jesse
McGoldrick, Anya C.
Mora, Dalilah D. Quintana
Nirenberg, Melissa J.
Walker, Ruth H.
Mendez, Yolfrankcis
Morgello, Susan
Dickson, Dennis W.
Murray, Melissa E.
Cordon-Cardo, Carlos
Tsankova, Nadejda M.
Walker, Jamie M.
Dangoor, Diana K.
McQuillan, Stephanie
Thorn, Emma L.
De Sanctis, Claudia
Li, Shuying
Fuchs, Thomas J.
Farrell, Kurt
Crary, John F.
Campanella, Gabriele
contents Foundation models have transformed computational pathology by providing generalizable representations from large-scale histology datasets. However, existing models are predominantly trained on surgical pathology data, which is enriched for non-nervous tissue and overrepresents neoplastic, inflammatory, metabolic, and other non-neurological diseases. Neuropathology represents a markedly different domain of histopathology, characterized by unique cell types (neurons, glia, etc.), distinct cytoarchitecture, and disease-specific pathological features including neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid plaques, Lewy bodies, and pattern-specific neurodegeneration. This domain mismatch may limit the ability of general-purpose foundation models to capture the morphological patterns critical for interpreting neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and cerebellar ataxias. To address this gap, we developed NeuroFM, a foundation model trained specifically on whole-slide images of brain tissue spanning diverse neurodegenerative pathologies. NeuroFM demonstrates superior performance compared to general-purpose models across multiple neuropathology-specific downstream tasks, including mixed dementia disease classification, hippocampal region segmentation, and neurodegenerative ataxia identification encompassing cerebellar essential tremor and spinocerebellar ataxia subtypes. This work establishes that domain-specialized foundation models trained on brain tissue can better capture neuropathology-specific features than models trained on general surgical pathology datasets. By tailoring foundation models to the unique morphological landscape of neurodegenerative diseases, NeuroFM enables more accurate and reliable AI-based analysis for brain disease diagnosis and research, setting a precedent for domain-specific model development in specialized areas of digital pathology.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_05993
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Domain-Specific Foundation Model Improves AI-Based Analysis of Neuropathology
Verma, Ruchika
Kandoi, Shrishtee
Afzal, Robina
Chen, Shengjia
Jegminat, Jannes
Karlovich, Michael W.
Umphlett, Melissa
Richardson, Timothy E.
Clare, Kevin
Hossain, Quazi
Samanamud, Jorge
Faust, Phyllis L.
Louis, Elan D.
McKee, Ann C.
Stein, Thor D.
Cherry, Jonathan D.
Mez, Jesse
McGoldrick, Anya C.
Mora, Dalilah D. Quintana
Nirenberg, Melissa J.
Walker, Ruth H.
Mendez, Yolfrankcis
Morgello, Susan
Dickson, Dennis W.
Murray, Melissa E.
Cordon-Cardo, Carlos
Tsankova, Nadejda M.
Walker, Jamie M.
Dangoor, Diana K.
McQuillan, Stephanie
Thorn, Emma L.
De Sanctis, Claudia
Li, Shuying
Fuchs, Thomas J.
Farrell, Kurt
Crary, John F.
Campanella, Gabriele
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Artificial Intelligence
Foundation models have transformed computational pathology by providing generalizable representations from large-scale histology datasets. However, existing models are predominantly trained on surgical pathology data, which is enriched for non-nervous tissue and overrepresents neoplastic, inflammatory, metabolic, and other non-neurological diseases. Neuropathology represents a markedly different domain of histopathology, characterized by unique cell types (neurons, glia, etc.), distinct cytoarchitecture, and disease-specific pathological features including neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid plaques, Lewy bodies, and pattern-specific neurodegeneration. This domain mismatch may limit the ability of general-purpose foundation models to capture the morphological patterns critical for interpreting neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and cerebellar ataxias. To address this gap, we developed NeuroFM, a foundation model trained specifically on whole-slide images of brain tissue spanning diverse neurodegenerative pathologies. NeuroFM demonstrates superior performance compared to general-purpose models across multiple neuropathology-specific downstream tasks, including mixed dementia disease classification, hippocampal region segmentation, and neurodegenerative ataxia identification encompassing cerebellar essential tremor and spinocerebellar ataxia subtypes. This work establishes that domain-specialized foundation models trained on brain tissue can better capture neuropathology-specific features than models trained on general surgical pathology datasets. By tailoring foundation models to the unique morphological landscape of neurodegenerative diseases, NeuroFM enables more accurate and reliable AI-based analysis for brain disease diagnosis and research, setting a precedent for domain-specific model development in specialized areas of digital pathology.
title Domain-Specific Foundation Model Improves AI-Based Analysis of Neuropathology
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.05993