The University of Houston announced that it has received a $3 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to develop a novel artificial intelligence (AI) deep-learning approach to help diagnose patients with lupus nephritis. Up to 30% and 40% of adult and pediatric patients with lupus will develop end-stage renal disease from lupus nephritis. However, pathologists may not be able to accurately diagnose lupus nephritis on the basis of a standard kidney biopsy. University researchers hope to use the new grant to train a neural network to interpret kidney biopsies for signs of lupus nephritis by utilizing datasets and problem-solving capabilities. “[W]e will build classifiers that rival the best renal pathologists in making a diagnosis using current criteria. This could dramatically improve patient management and long-term renal and patient outcomes,” concluded Chandra Mohan, MD, PhD, the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Endowed Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Houston.