1) The MedBioinformatics project aims to develop integrative bioinformatics tools to link genotypes and phenotypes for use by clinical practitioners.
2) These tools include a Disease Biomarker Browser, Disease Trajectory Comorbidity Browser, and Cancer Genome Interpreter.
3) The tools will be tested on case studies of major depression, Alzheimer's disease, and comorbidities between cancer and central nervous system diseases.
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MedBioinformatics H2020 EU project
1. Progress in healthcare and biomedical research by necessity involves taking advantage of
the huge amount of clinical data and biological knowledge that already exists and is
currently being generated.
Many of the efforts done for developing bioinformatics methods and applications have not
produced the expected societal impact for different reasons, including:
1) the deficit of integrative approaches that effectively combine different types of data
from different sources
2) the lack of active involvement of the potential users (from experimental scientists to
healthcare professionals) in the process of creating applications that mine, integrate,
analyse and display biomedical information in a way that is immediately understandable
and useful ('actionable') by end users.
Introduction General objectives
Case Studies and Integrative Bioinformatics Tools
Expected Impacts
MedBioinformatics:
Developing Integrative Bioinformatics Applications for
Personalized Medicine
Miguel A. MAYERa,, Laura I. FURLONGa and Ferran SANZa on behalf of the MedBioinformatics Consortium
a Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics, IMIM - Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
The general objective of the MedBioinformatics project is the development of integrative
bioinformatics tools and software applications autonomously usable by translational
scientists and clinical practitioners such as:
- New Generation Genotype-Phenotype Explorations (GePhEx)
- Disease Biomarker Browser (DBB)
- Disease Trajectory Comorbidity Browser (DTCB)
- Cancer Genome Interpreter (TCGI)
Oncology and Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders are the case studies selected
based on their big impact in terms of citizens’ wellbeing, diverse comorbidities and their
molecular basis being currently an active area of research.
MedBioinformatics is funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation Programme 2014-2020, under grant agreement no. 634143.
Website: http://www.medbioinformatics.eu
The expected impacts are:
- to accelerate the translation of the results into clinical research,
- to facilitate the widespread dissemination of new bioinformatics methods to maximise the accessibility and utility of
biomedical data in research and medicine
- to increase commercial products in bioinformatics research and innovation opportunities in the Small & Medium Sized
(SME) enterprises-intensive field in Europe.
- Algorithms linking genotypes and phenotypes, the integration of databases on known genetic interactions and biomarker data will be
integrated in a desktop-able application with steep learning curve used by clinicians.
- A Disease Trajectory Comorbidity Browser will provide quantitative risk measures for comorbidities based on disease prevalence data, their
related molecular features and phenotypic information.
Methods and Tools (in development
There are several examples of higher than
expected co-occurrence of both kinds of diseases
in a given patient:
- direct comorbidity
- lower than expected co-occurrence (inverse
comorbidity or protective effect).
GePhEx (Genotype-Phenotype
Exploration browser) Will carry out
complex multi-variant association tests,
to annotate variants and to assess the
global susceptibility of an individual to
any particular phenotype
The study of the association between cancer and
CNS diseases (both direct and inverse comorbidity)
represent an excellent opportunity to unveil both
biological and non-biological connections between
CNS diseases and cancer.
DBB (Disease Biomarker
Browser) will gather information
about disease biomarkers from
public sources allowing the user
to easily assess the translational
potential of these biomarkers.
DTCB (Disease Trajectory Comorbidity
Browser) will alert, given a disease
diagnosed to a patient, on possible
comorbidities ranked according to different
level of evidence.
Cancer Genome Interpreter that will integrate
updated knowledge in cancer genomics and
pharmacogenomics to help oncologists and
cancer researchers in the task of interpreting
the genome, transcriptome and epigenome of
tumours for more accurate decision-making.
CNS disorders comprise a variety of diseases,
including neurodevelopmental and
neurodegenerative ones, caused by genetic,
epigenetic and environmental factors. Case
studies:
- Major Depression (MD): MD without other
diseases or addictions and Alcohol-Induced MD
- Analysis of the comorbidity of MD with
Alzheimer Disease on the basis of the analysis of
disease trajectories and biological information.
User needs and Usability
The distance between fundamental research
and clinical practice is still huge. In
consequence, careful investigation on user
needs and tools usability assessment are
critical success factors.
EFMI STC 2016. Transforming Healthcare with the Internet of Things
European Federation for Medical Informatics, Special Topic Conference. Paris, April 17-19, 2016
Central Nervous System (CNS)
disorders and their comorbidities Comorbidities between
Cancer and CNS diseases