WormAtlas expanding beyond C. elegans with support from NIH

The National Institutes of Health recently pledged $2.6 million towards the Center for C. elegans Anatomy, also known as WormAtlas. The center provides anatomical resources for researchers studying C. elegans, the tiny nematode worm that serves as a model organism for higher animals, including humans. Of the total award, $950,000 goes to co-principal investigator Nathan Schroeder of the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES).

Risk of Surgical Mitral Valve Repair for Primary Mitral Regurgitation

In an article published jointly on January 18, 2023, in both The Annals of Thoracic Surgery and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, leading cardiology and cardiothoracic surgical researchers analyzed recent national data to assess the outcomes and risk of mitral valve repair for primary mitral regurgitation.

“Gowajee” — a Thai Speech-Recognition AI from Chula

An engineering professor from Chula has designed “Gowajee”, a Thai-language speech recognition AI capable of delivering speech-to-text/ text-to-speech with the accuracy of a native speaker while keeping users’ data secure. Having been rolled out in call centers, and depression patients screening process, Gowajee is set to be adapted to many other functions.

Genomic Data Commons provides unprecedented cancer data resource

The National Cancer Institute’s Genomic Data Commons (GDC), launched in 2016 by then-Vice President Joseph Biden and hosted at the University of Chicago, has become one of the largest and most widely used resources in cancer genomics, with more than 3.3 petabytes of data from more than 65 projects and over 84,000 anonymized patient cases, serving more than 50,000 unique users each month.

The University of Chicago is awarded a major federal contract to host a new COVID-19 medical imaging resource center

A new center hosted at the University of Chicago — co-led by the largest medical imaging professional organizations in the country — will help tackle the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic by curating a massive database of medical images to help better understand and treat the disease. The work is supported by a $20 million, two-year federal contract that could be renewable to $50 million over five years.

Sharing data for improved forest protection and monitoring

Although the mapping of aboveground biomass is now possible with satellite remote sensing, these maps still have to be calibrated and validated using on-site data gathered by researchers across the world. A newly established global database will support Earth Observation and encourage investment in relevant field-based measurements and research.