Basic and Translational Research
Overall aim
The Basic and Translational Research pillar of the Department of Digital Medicine (DDM) aims to accelerate the understanding of complex human disorders and to translate this knowledge into actionable treatments and preventive measures. Our ultimate goal is to improve quality of life and well-being for all, by leveraging basic and translational research.
Our approach
To drive discoveries and create meaningful, impactful, and inclusive solutions, we follow a multi-tiered strategy built on the following key elements, which will then be the basis for fostering research along two axes: fundamental and translational:
Key elements:
- Harnessing data - combining the rich repositories of clinical and biological datasets across labs
- Leadership in AI - developing and applying cutting-edge computational technologies and AI models
- Collaboration across disciplines - bridging medicine, biology, computer science, and the social sciences and humanities by bringing experts closer
- Engaging society - including patients, society, and non-academic partners as co-creators
- Bridging science and art - bringing creativity and expression into problem-solving
Research axes:
Fundamental research: Fundamental research aims at advancing our understanding of the basic mechanisms of diseases and biological processes at various levels, ranging from sub-cellular to cellular and systems level. AI in fundamental research can accelerate the analysis of biomedical datasets, for instance genomic or neuroscientific datasets, and assist in hypothesis testing.
Translational research: Translational research aims at closing the gap between discoveries in fundamental science and their clinical applications. AI can support translational research by mediating real-world medical solutions aiming to refine disease treatments, monitoring and interventions, as well as enabling cross-species comparisons, for instance translating findings in animal models of disease to human patients.
Labs:
