GATE’s virtual workshop “Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Digital Health” was held on 25th September 2020 as a satellite event to Biotech Atelier 2020.
Its aim was to explore some of the latest developments in the applications of Big data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning and Deep Learning methods to the field of Digital Health and biomedical research.
The organizers from the GATE Institute and Biotech Atelier brought together scientists from leading academic and medical institutions from Bulgaria, Sweden and the United States.
The workshop was organised in two sessions: „Big Data in Genetics“ and „AI for cognitive diseases“. The Director of the GATE Institute, prof. Sylvia Ilieva opened the workshop with an introductory presentation on the main research and application areas of the institute. She also briefly presented the ongoing projects and partnerships of the institute related to the workshop topic. The first session „Big Data in Genetics“ was moderated by Assoc. Prof. Dean Palejev, Digital Health Lead at GATE Institute. It included presentations of prominent speakers such as Dr Alexander Eckehart Urban of Stanford University (USA), Dr Ivan Ivanov of Texas A&M University (USA) and Thomas Colarusso, Co-founder & CEO of Bio-AI Health (USA).
The session addressed the following topics: The complex variation in the human genome sequence that can affect brain function; Non-invasive biomarkers and computational modelling for neonatal health; and Leveraging AI and Big Data to develop AI diagnostic test for immuno-oncology therapy in lung cancer.
The second session „AI for cognitive diseases“ was moderated by Prof. Graham Kemp of the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden (one of the founding partners of the GATE Institute). It included a talk from Todor Kunchev, MD of the University Hospital Alexandrovska (Bulgaria), who discussed some clinical aspects of dementia management and follow-up in Bulgaria and opportunities for digitalisation. Assist. Prof. Fredrik Johansson of the Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) focused on Machine learning for predicting progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Assoc. Prof. Dessislava Petrova-Antonova, Research Leader of Data Management Research Unit of the GATE Institute presented the GATE’s ongoing projects related to digital twin modelling of patients with cognitive disorders.
Each session attracted more than 50 participants. Both sessions were followed by discussions.