Members of the 'AI Generation' at CNIO, with the center's managing director, Maribel Salido, and scientific director, Fernando Peláez (bottom, third and fifth from the lef). Laura M. Lombardía / CNIO.
Thanks to the programme ‘Generation D: Building the AI Generation’, the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) has two new research groups and fourteen researchers who are experts in Artificial Intelligence.
The ultimate goal is to use Artificial Intelligence so that cancer research findings benefit patients more quickly.
The ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Service and the ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities presented the programme ‘Generation D: Building the AI Generation’, which has allowed the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) to bring on board two new research groups and fourteen researchers. They all share the ability to use Artificial Intelligence as a tool that ultimately allows cancer research findings to be put into clinical practice sooner.
In addition to CNIO, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) and the Carlos III National Cardiovascular Research Centre (CNIC) all benefit from the programme. In total, the Spanish Government will fund 374 research contracts in public centres over four years, to promote the application of Artificial Intelligence and digital transformation to science and research.
At CNIO, the new groups are the CNIO Digital Genomics Group, led by Marcos Díaz-Gay, and the CNIO Biomolecular Design and Structural Nanomedicine Group, led by Roger Castells-Graells.
During the presentation of the AI Generation programme, Díaz-Gay explained the objective of his group: “We use AI to infer the causes of different tumours, looking for patterns of mutations and the agents that cause them, such as smoking or new ones. The idea is that research findings will reach clinical practice earlier so that patients can be helped. With AI we can shorten these times.”
In cancer research, AI is proving to be revolutionary, confirmed Fátima Al-Shahrour, head of the CNIO Bioinformatics Unit. The large amount of biological and clinical data available today means that the areas of computational biology and bioinformatics are indispensable at research centres: “We are the bridge between data and interpretation,” said Al-Shahrour.
The presentation of the AI Generation programme included a ‘technology corner’ where Castells explained how AI will be used at CNIO to develop innovative cancer drugs: “Through AI, we design custom proteins that are not found in nature, with the goal of performing specific functions in cells. This includes the ability to interfere with critical cellular processes, target treatments directly on cancer cells and develop advanced methods for biomarker detection.”
AI will help advance precision medicine to help diagnose cancer better and sooner, and predict its progress in each individual patient.