The 27th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) Brain Tumor Segmentation (BraTS) Competition was successfully held in Marrakesh, Morocco from 6th October to 10th October 2024. Dr. Ying Weng from School of Computer Science, Faculty of Science & Engineering, University of Nottingham Ningbo China led the PhD Students Team to participate in this Competition. Following success in winning the 1st Place Prize in the international Inpainting Challenge last year, Ying-Weng-Team won the 1st Place Prize in the international Inpainting Challenge once again and the 2nd Place in the international Pathology Challenge this year, which demonstrated their solid theoretical foundation and excellent professional knowledge in the competition and also achieved international honor for UNNC.

The MICCAI International BraTS Competition is hosted by the International Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention Society. This competition is with the longest history, most renowned and authoritative international competition in the field of medical image. The competition topics include the challenges in brain tumor medical image analysis. Participants need to not only have excellent theoretical knowledge of AI, but also implement the novel and effective AI algorithms and codes in a required short time. Ying-Weng-Team from School of Computer Science, Faculty of Science & Engineering, University of Nottingham Ningbo China competed on the same stage with 770 participating teams from many well-known universities all over the world, including Stanford University, Harvard University, Columbia University, Emory University, University of Washington, New York University, University of Arizona, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Virginia, University of Oxford, University College London, King's College London, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Sun Yat-sen University, Southeast University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Southern University of Science and Technology and other universities.

During the summer vacation in 2024, the team started to prepare for this competition. Dr. Weng said, "We have formulated a detailed preparation plan and competition strategy. In the international Inpainting Challenge, we continued last year's successful plan and further optimized it on the basis. We made steady progress and achieved the 1st Place Prize once again. In the international Pathology Challenge, our start was not smooth where our AI model was surpassed by most participating teams. After consulting Dr. Rong Huang from the Ningbo Pathology Center, we learned how pathology experts classify pathological images. This helped us finally optimize our AI model before the deadline and successfully achieve the 2nd Place Prize."

Although the MICCAI International BraTS Competition had a tight schedule and heavy tasks, Dr. Weng led the PhD students to work hard. With rich knowledge and optimized strategies, the Ying-Weng-Team won the 1st Place Prize and the 2nd Place Prize even though the team had fewer members than other teams. As team members, PhD students Juexin Zhang and Ke Chen from School of Computer Science benefited a lot from the competition. Juexin Zhang shared, "In this competition, we applied computer with AI knowledge in the field of medical image processing & analysis, and successfully inpainted images when MRI images were damaged, solving the problem of missing images of healthy brain tissues. Thanks a lot to the educational mode of ‘tight combination of theory and practice' that School of Computer Science, Faculty of Science & Engineering, University of Nottingham Ningbo China has always adhered to. Also thanks a lot to our PhD supervisor Dr. Weng for leading us to skillfully apply the computer with AI knowledge we have mastered to real-life scenarios in the competition. This has established a solid foundation for our future scientific research.” Ke Chen also shared: “Pathological diagnosis is to observe and analyze the surgically sampled tumor tissues under a microscope to determine the tumor subtype, grading and prognostic information, which provides a basis for clinical treatment. Pathological diagnosis is respected as the 'Gold Standard' for tumor diagnosis and plays a key role in treatment plan selection and prognostic evaluation. We are very grateful to our PhD supervisor Dr. Weng for leading us to optimize our AI model after consulting the expert opinions from the Ningbo Pathology Center. In this competition, we felt a sense of accomplishment in applying scientific research to real scenarios. Our AI algorithm can be applied to the clinical field in the future and contribute to pathological image analysis.”

This is the second year that the team has participated in the International BraTS Competition. With the professional skills and determined spirit, Dr. Weng has led the PhD students team to show the elegant demeanor of School of Computer Science, Faculty of Science & Engineering, University of Nottingham Ningbo China on the international stage. We eagerly anticipate that the Ying-Weng-Team will continue to make efforts to learn through this competition and improve themselves in the field of AI, and explore the practical applications in real medical scenarios.