Professor Tarja Malm’s research group at UEF’s A. I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences takes part in a research project funded by Business Finland, with the aim of building models that accelerate and enhance Finnish medical research. The three-year DATA-INDUCTOR project is coordinated by the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service.
The project combines top research in the fields of biomedicine and modeling and strongly utilizes the opportunities brought by artificial intelligence. The joint project is part of the Orion Veturi research ecosystem project and the broader Business Finland Health 360 program.
Virtual methods improve the chances of success
The development of a new drug is a long-lasting, expensive, and often risky process. In the DATA-INDUCTOR project, artificial intelligence models based on existing and new data and machine learning are built, which are needed in drug development. With the help of artificial intelligence, drug development can proceed faster and more reliably in the right direction, so that not everything necessarily needs to be analyzed through laboratory tests. In addition, the project develops human based models that are important for drug development.
The project involves the universities of Helsinki, Tampere, Turku, and Eastern Finland, as well as Experimentica Oy, Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy, BioNavis Oy, SCHOTT Primoceler Oy, and Orion Pharma.
Malm’s research group will contribute to the project in particular by developing and testing new human cell based models and further developing tools for integrating multimodal data. ”The funding will enable the development of electrophysiological measurement methods for cell models needed in drug development, as well as the development of new tools to analyse data from these models. The project offers a great opportunity to collaborate with several research organisations and companies," says Tarja Malm.
The total budget of the DATA-INDUCTOR project is approximately 5 M€.
"The project is highly research-oriented and has international novelty value. The joint project promotes collaboration between companies and research institutions and is expected to have significant impacts on the development of companies' competitiveness and new business opportunities internationally. Additionally, the project advances the green transition in drug development," says Outi Tuovila from Business Finland.
