Emerging Roles of Large Language and Foundation Models in Pathology

Dear Colleagues,

For this Special Issue, we invite original research articles, reviews, and perspectives that explore the development, application, and future directions of large language models (LLMs) and foundation models in the field of pathology. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Applications of LLMs for structured reporting, diagnosis assistance, and pathology workflow optimization;
• Foundation models for histopathology image analysis, multi-modal pathology datasets, and digital pathology integration;
• Self-supervised, zero-shot, and few-shot learning approaches in pathology using foundation models;
• Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) frameworks for pathology education, knowledge retrieval, and decision support;
• Challenges and opportunities in clinical translation, validation, and regulatory pathways for LLM- and foundation model-driven tools;
• Interpretability, reliability, and bias mitigation strategies in LLMs and foundation models applied to pathology;
• Multi-modal and cross-domain applications combining pathology, genomics, radiology, and clinical data;
• Development of domain-specific pathology foundation models;
• Ethical, privacy, and data governance considerations unique to large-scale model deployment in pathology;
• Early clinical experiences and implementation science focused on LLM and foundation model integration.

We welcome contributions from academia, industry, and clinical practice that provide novel insights, technical innovations, critical evaluations, or translational perspectives on how these transformative models are reshaping the future of pathology.

Dr. Zeynettin Akkus
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Bioengineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• large language models (LLMs)
• foundation models
• digital pathology
• histopathology image analysis
• self-supervised learning
• multi-modal AI
• clinical decision support
• retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
• explainable AI (XAI)
• translational pathology