Data Science for Life Sciences & Health

The professorship Data Science for Life Sciences & Health is led by Professor Wynand Alkema and focuses on the use of existing technologies and the development of new technologies in data science. Through the development of new techniques to quickly and efficiently collect, process, model and analyse scientific data, the Data Sciences for Life Sciences & Health research area contributes to improving healthcare and the environment.

Projects

The professorship Data Science for Life Sciences & Health collaborates with various partners in the medical, pharmaceutical, and agricultural sectors on diverse projects. Two projects are explained below:

CureQ
One of the projects, CureQ, for example, offers insight into understanding the causes of Huntington's disease and developing new treatment methods for this disease. To this end, data is collected on a large scale from patients suffering from Huntington's disease as well as from the model systems used to study this disease. The data is generated by the medical centres participating in the project. The professorship is responsible for the storage and integration of this data according to the FAIR data principle and is involved in the integrated analysis of this data.

PestiSide
Some of the pesticides used in the agricultural sector to control diseases and weeds end up in the soil and groundwater. To gain insight into the levels and distribution of these substances, as well as potential harmful effects on humans, animals, and plants, the professorship has developed a data platform where all data regarding these substances have been collected in accordance with the FAIR data principles. This data can then be easily analysed and visualised via an interactive dashboard, which also incorporates links to scientific literature.