AI-powered genetic insights to transform cerebral palsy care
During their co-op work term at SickKids Research Institute, science students Murto Hilali and Kritika Grover achieved breakthrough research published in Nature Genetics. Leveraging AlphaFold AI, they unraveled the genetic architecture of cerebral palsy, predicting how gene variants impact symptoms. Their work highlights AI’s powerful role in revolutionizing healthcare and fast-tracking drug discovery.
people have some form of cerebral palsy
(Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation)
of people with cerebral palsy experience chronic pain
(Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation)
there are five major types of cerebral palsy
(Cerebral Palsy Guide)
…the integration of AI in a lab reduces the need for extensive pre-clinical trials, which could accelerate drug discovery and have a positive impact on those affected by cerebral palsy.
Murto Hilali is a current biotechnology/economics student at Waterloo. Kritika Grover is a biochemistry with a minor in computer science graduate. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Computational Biology at Cornell.
Life-saving machine learning model
DeepNovo – Li and team’s new machine learning model – uses computer programs that can learn from data. DeepNovo analyzes data from mass spectrometry, looking for patterns in the fragments of peptides to solve complex peptide sequencing challenges. The more thorougher we discover peptides from the cancer cell surface, the easier it will be to develop therapeutic drugs or treatments for medical conditions, like cancer. DeepNovo is ground-breaking because it can be trained to work with different types of data sources, paving the way for cancer vaccines personalized to every patient.
Health futures
Rapid technological progress is reshaping healthcare on a global and personal level. Waterloo is harnessing our expertise where health, society, technology, and entrepreneurship converge, collaborating with partners on ground-breaking innovations that propel health and healthcare systems forward for everyone.
Read on for more ways Waterloo is on it.
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