LifeSpan BioSciences, NEC Corporation and NEC Soft of Japan have entered into a collaboration to develop a cancer diagnosis support system to meet the needs of pathologists, oncologists and cancer patients for rapid and accurate detection and diagnosis assistance. The diagnostic assistant uses enhanced image capture and computer analysis to detect cancer cells in pathology specimens and distinguish them from non-cancerous cells. The system combines LifeSpan's Automated Image Analysis System with NEC and NEC Soft's advanced machine learning and image detection technologies.