Machine learning is a technology that has recently matured enough to show business benefits, and those benefits are incredible. By training machines to understand and perform certain tasks, businesses can reap the rewards of human ability combined with machine speed. One place where machine learning can be a gamechanger is the medical field.

To shed some light on these developments, Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), cohost of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, joined Scarlett Spring, president and chief commercial officer at VisionGate, Inc., during the Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference 2016 event.

Cellular needles and tissue sample haystacks

The conversation opened up as Spring explained the technology her company was developing. She said VisionGate used innovative technology to detect cancer cells in a sample. It uses machine learning and vision recognition to look at the features of a cell. The system, having been trained to notice cancer cells, can pick out the few suspects in a large, often impure, sample.  

It’s all about early detection, Spring said. Most of the costs involved in treatment come at the end of the disease cycle. Better detection tools will save lives and be a tremendous cost savings, as well, she said.

Three layers for startups

Taking a hard turn from cancer, the discussion then moved to a presentation that Spring was giving. She described her workshop as exploring three layers: raising money for a startup with an idea, going from startup to scale-up, and thinking about aligning a brand with the mission of the company.

She also mentioned one’s personal brand. What traits would a person want to be known for? Developing this personal brand comes down to helping someone tap into their authenticity, Spring added. What are the things that someone is known for that make them valuable? It’s a matter of reputation.

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference.

Photo by SiliconANGLE