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Mission

DNA strand wity binary code_webThe application of genomics across the life sciences industry is currently challenged by an inadequate ability to interpret and act on genomic data quickly and accurately for a wide variety of applications. One challenge has been that of integrating market and thought leaders across what had historically been orthogonal industries: computing and biotechnology. With the advent of high-throughput sequencing technologies, those industries are now interdependent and have a critical need to synthesize and coordinate activities at the interface of computing and genomics.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Mayo Clinic, which are leading institutions in these areas and already have strong ties to each other, have established the Center for Computational Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine (CCBGM), a collaborative environment that will improve the applicability, timeliness, efficiency, and accuracy of the computational infrastructure that will address pressing genome-based challenges.

The goal of the CCBGM is to leverage the power of data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance computation to advance healthcare discovery.   In order to accomplish this there is a need for computational tools for big data analytics and machine learning models in genomic and genetic data analysis, patient specific data, imaging, compression, encryption, and data transfer. The center will address these needs using biological modeling, algorithm design, interface development and iterative optimization in direct collaboration with cutting-edge biology researchers analyzing real data.

CCBGM Explores Foundation/Generative Models

CCBGM faculty and industry members explore foundation/generative models and how they may transform the healthcare industry at a webinar on June 2, 2023.  The meeting included industry and faculty panels to discuss various deep generative model frameworks, their applications, and the risk of generative AI and its potential positive economic impact in accelerating healthcare-related predictive model development.  Click here to see the meeting agenda.

Click here to watch a recording of the meeting.

CCBGM in the News

Personalized medicine software vulnerability uncovered

CCBGM welcomes Dr. Nilufer Ertekin-Taner, of Mayo Clinic Florida to campus on September 12, 2019. Dr. Taner spoke to CCBGM faculty and students about her lab’s work to develop therapies and predictive biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders.  Her presentation titled “From Big Data to Therapies: Roadmap Studies in Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders” addressed how Big Data can be used to help figure out which genes and proteins should be the targets of the drugs and therapies currently being developed.   Click here to read her abstract.

CCBGM member company – Infosys, issues press release announcing their collaboration with CCBGM.  Read the August 2019 Press release here.

CCBGM researchers looking at genomics and cybersecurity including strategies to secure genomic information, transmitting data over encrypted channels, and using software that protects sequencing data from being changed.  Read the July 2019 press release from Sandia National Labs here.

Prof. Ravi Iyer and Dr. Liewei Wang participated in an NSF IUCRC Webinar on June 5, 2019 at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern).  The presentation gave an overview of CCBGM and discussed ways companies can collaborate with the center.  To learn more you can watch the webinar presentation here.

Bringing Artificial Intelligence to the Patient’s Bedside

CCBGM co-sponsors an Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Workshop with the Mayo Clinic.  Dr. Liewei Wang highlights work from CCBGM.  Read more here.

Illinois and Mayo team up to develop improved method to identify seizure-causing regions in the brain

CCBGM PhD student Yoga Varatharajah and collaborators from the Mayo Clinic have developed a method to help doctors quickly identify the part of the brain causing a patient’s epilepsy.  Read more.

CCBGM Work Recognized on the Mayo Clinic Blog

Work performed by CCBGM student, Arjun Athreya, has been highlighted in the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine Blog. “We combined expertise from clinicians, engineers and biologists to create an algorithm that uncovered patterns of antidepressant response that each of these specialists alone might not be able to recognize,” says Arjun Athreya, a Mayo- UIUC Alliance predoctoral research fellow.  Read more.

Arjun Athreya investigates biological markers disease, including triple negative breast cancer

CCBGM PhD student Arjun Athreya collaborates with Mayo Clinic to identify subtypes of diseases and determine how individual patients vary in their response to drug treatments and receives top honors from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.  Read more.

Announcement of funding of the CCBGM:

Each month, Catalyst, the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition’s monthly publication, features a column written by a leader from the tech community and highlights major Illinois science news stories.

See the March 2015 Catalyst in which the CCBGM was featured.