Ola Spjuth appointed SciLifeLab AI lead
Ola Spjuth, Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences at Uppsala University, has recently been appointed SciLifeLab AI lead. Together with the SciLifeLab Director and Co-Director, he will now start developing a national AI strategy for SciLifeLab. Ola’s work will be closely aligned with the ongoing work by the SciLifeLab Data Centre to develop and implement technical solutions.
The rapid development of AI-based models holds great potential to strengthen SciLifeLab, both in terms of research and operational efficiency. On a research level, AI offers superior analysis of large, complex, and multimodal datasets, such as those from genomics, spatial biology, and imaging, which is faster, more scalable, and more sensitive than traditional data mining methods. This can help uncover patterns in biomedical data that lead to new scientific discoveries, allowing researchers to move more quickly to higher-level scientific questions, including accelerating drug discovery, improving diagnostics, and developing personalized treatments.
”SciLifeLab is rapidly moving into a more data-centric way of operation of its national infrastructure and the way it supports its research community. A national AI strategy that realizes the synergies between the development of new AI-driven data analysis models and tools and their deployment as new cutting-edge services by the SciLifeLab infrastructure is a key component of our future plans”, says SciLifeLab Director Jan Ellenberg (KI).
AI offers powerful tools to enhance operational productivity by automating routine tasks, creating graphical content, optimizing workflows, and streamlining data management. By integrating AI strategically into both operation and research, SciLifeLab will stay at the forefront of life sciences innovation while improving productivity and ensuring that its resources are used to their fullest potential.
“The high speed of development within the AI field presents many opportunities for life science research but also requires dedicated efforts to avoid falling behind. As the AI Lead for SciLifeLab, my goal is to drive the integration of AI across SciLifeLab’s ecosystem to ensure that we will remain at the forefront of the life sciences revolution. A national AI strategy for SciLifeLab constitutes an important first step in this direction”, says Ola Spjuth.
In his new role, Ola Spjuth will also provide advice to the SciLifeLab Data Centre on its ongoing efforts to develop the technical underpinnings for new AI capabilities at SciLifeLab, for example by testing and piloting new AI-tools and technologies, for implementation as future services to the SciLifeLab community.
