Programming can be a language of its own.
Research Education Awards Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Faculty members from the University of Colorado Department of Biomedical Informatics and Department of Medicine have received a $1.8 million, five-year grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to offer summer institutes focused on the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in data sciences and omics of cardiovascular and lung diseases.
Research Awards Data and Health
Biomedical informatics researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have received a five-year grant totaling $9.5 million from the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance the Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE), which was created to revolutionize data sharing, integration, and innovation across research communities.
Cathy Lozupone, PhD, professor of biomedical informatics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and the researchers in her lab are interested in the microbiomes of HIV patients.
Research Diabetes Data analysis
Epidemiologist and researcher Randi K. Johnson, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of biomedical informatics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, is diving into how maternal pregnancy factors impact the offspring’s risk of developing type 1 diabetes (T1D) with the assistance of a $500,000 grant from JDRF Australia. The grant is supported by funding from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to JDRF Australia.
Studying the DNA of Neanderthals and Denisovans, two archaic species that lived 100,000 to 30,000 years ago, is helping genomics researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine develop a deeper understanding of pharmacogenes, which can explain how and why modern humans process substances like food, pollutants, and medications.
Research Mental Health Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The human brain contains a lot of data.
“You often hear people say you only use 5 to 10% of the brain, but it’s not true,” says Joel Stoddard, MD, MAS, associate professor of psychiatry and secondary faculty member in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
This summer, Harriet Dashnow, PhD, will join the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. In her new role as assistant professor, she’ll focus on computational method research, rare disease, and establish her own lab.
This year marked the one-year anniversary of the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and along with that celebration came many more, ranging from crucial research to exciting new grant announcements.
As 2023 comes to an end, join the communications staff in revisiting some of the most important stories from the year and looking to what’s next for DBMI faculty and researchers.
Approximately 1,300 new cases of melanoma are detected in Colorado alone each year, and while immunotherapies have revolutionized treatment for skin cancer, nearly half of patients do not respond to them.
Research Drug Development Microbiology
Computational cell biologist Michael Lippincott, a PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, spends his days studying cells, how they approach death, and then how they die.
Four research projects with a combined orthopedic and biomedical informatics focus have been awarded grant funds totaling $200,000 in the newly formed Dyads Pilot Award competition.
A newly-released consensus report authored by more than 200 academic experts from around the world, including three health researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, points to exciting opportunities in precision medicine in diabetes prevention and care.
While software development has long been compared to the craft of carpentry due to the need for a sturdy foundation and clear instructions, many in the field say garden analogies offer a way to address gaps and enhance practices.
At first glance, there don’t seem to be many similarities between humans and zebrafish, but the small freshwater minnows native to southeastern Asia have quickly become a favorite model organism in scientific research, allowing researchers to study human health, rare diseases, and treatment options.
Research Awareness Climate Science
Hot summer days and a large body of water might sound like a recipe for relief when temperatures soar, but the same conditions can make lakes, ponds, and inland swim beaches the ideal place for harmful algal bloom (HAB) events to flourish.
“Should I be taking a probiotic?” is a question that Maggie Stanislawski, PhD, assistant professor in the University of Colorado Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI), gets asked often.
Research Advancement Data analysis
Anybody who has ever experienced altitude sickness, even the mildest form known as acute mountain sickness, knows how debilitating it can be. Symptoms, which include lightheadedness, nausea, fatigue, and headache, most often occur at altitudes above 8,000 feet.
Lila is a registered purebred beagle, but depending on what company does her DNA testing, she might be part rottweiler, part American foxhound, or not a beagle at all.
Research Rheumatoid Arthritis Data analysis
With no cure or widely successful therapeutic options for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Fan Zhang, PhD, is looking to computational machine learning to identify new target treatments.
For geneticist Joanne Cole, PhD, food is life. Her love goes beyond trying a new recipe and seeking out new restaurants – it’s also in her work in the University of Colorado Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI), identifying the connection between genetics and nutrition.
Being able to follow a patient’s progression through a health system is an important factor for care in any nation, but it can be more difficult in developing countries that face greater technological and data-related challenges.
Exploring diverse ancestry is a critical factor in furthering medical research.
A new study published in Nature Genetics from researchers in the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, in partnership with the University of California San Francisco and Stanford University, is the largest of its kind that focuses on ancestry correlations with biomedical traits and the first study to examine the role of genetic variants across diverse ancestries in regulating gene expression.
Researchers in the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have reached a major milestone in developing standards and tools for creating phenopackets that may foster more innovation and advancement in the medical field by allowing health professionals to more easily collect and share data.
Research Equity Diversity and Inclusion Data analysis
Following an analysis of more than 20,000 articles by researchers in the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, a major science publication is implementing new policies to improve the diversity of its sources.
Research Artificial Intelligence (AI)
As the world explores the new possibilities and uses of artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT, researchers at the University of Colorado Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) are integrating similar models into academic authoring.
Research Health equity Clinical Informatics Clinical decision support (CDS)
For years, David Albers, PhD, associate professor of biomedical informatics at University of Colorado School of Medicine, has been haunted by a friend’s death. It was long before Albers contemplated a career in health care, when he was an undergrad studying physics and taking music lessons in his spare time from accomplished jazz musician Tony Williams.
New research from the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) at the University of Colorado School of Medicine has identified 45 genes whose gene expression is associated with body mass index (BMI), many of which have not been explored in obesity research before, after conducting a study using a multiethnic cohort.
Researchers in the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) at the University of Colorado School of Medicine spearheaded an innovative method to synthesize and compile accurate information about COVID-19 since the onset of the global pandemic in 2020.
Research Blood Child & Adolescent Student and Alumni ColoradoSPH at CU Anschutz
Using data from studies published in the medical literature over a 40-year time span, Peter DeWitt, PhD, a University of Colorado School of Medicine data scientist in the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI), has developed an automated algorithm to address gaps in children’s blood pressure percentiles, providing a way to directly compare blood pressure measurements for children of the same age, sex, and height.
Research Innovation Faculty Medical imaging
Nicholas Dwork, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, has filed a provisional patent for a technology that could increase scan speeds of three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The invention could lead to faster results, increase the clinical applications of MRIs, and ultimately improve patient care.
Toan Ong, PhD, associate professor of biomedical informatics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, has been approved for a $1.05 million funding award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) for a project that will improve methods of conducting research using electronic health records (EHRs).
Research Community Equity Diversity and Inclusion
From the University of Colorado Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) offices on the top floor of the Anschutz Health Sciences Building, one sees sweeping views of Denver and the Rocky Mountains. DBMI Assistant Professor Katrina Claw, PhD, sees the lands that Native American tribes have called their home.
Research COVID-19 Faculty Public Health
Overflowing intensive care units. A shortage of personal protective equipment. A scramble for hospital beds and ventilators. Health care workers pushed to the brink. The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare many well-documented vulnerabilities of health care systems. The need for accurate and early clinical assessment of severity related to COVID-19 was vital to developing crisis standards of care to meet the growing pandemic. These standards of care are informed by mortality prediction models, which assess the risk of imminent death in patients.
Research Press Releases Education Clinical Research CU Medicine Today
Connecting basic science and medicine with clinical and translational scientists, the University of Colorado School of Medicine is introducing the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) to enhance clinical care through integrated computational technology, laboratory investigations, and artificial intelligence (AI).
In the world of pet care, DNA tests are increasingly used to trace our pets’ ancestry. However, a University of Colorado study led by DBMI founding chair Casey Greene, PhD, and Halie Rando, PhD, has revealed significant inaccuracies in canine DNA testing. This raises concerns among dog owners about the reliability of these tests.
Katrina Claw, PhD, assistant professor of biomedical informatics, is one of 11 researchers in a career feature in Nature on March 12 explaining what motivates their academic lives. “My dad was a heavy-equipment operator for more than 40 years, and in our tribe’s traditional ceremonies, he always prayed for me to have a job in which I would stay clean all day and have an office,” Katrina says. “I not only have an office with views of the Rocky Mountains, I also have a laboratory full of pristine equipment and lead a successful research programme that trains students and collaborates with Native American communities on pharmacogenomics and the cultural, ethical, legal and social implications of genomics research.”
A recent study conducted by researchers at the Department of Biomedical Informatics DBMI at the University of Colorado School of Medicine delved into the intricacies of DTC dog DNA testing, shedding light on the complexities and challenges inherent in deciphering the genetic code of man’s best friend.
Researchers across the nation, including DBMI faculty member Toan Ong, PhD, find that the most recent COVID-19 booster shot reduces adults’ risk of moderate or severe COVID by more than half. The conclusion comes from a nationwide data study from September 2023 through January 2024, a period of JN.1 variant dominance.
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