UQ researchers get $7m grant for big data medicine research

A team of researchers from the University of Queensland have secured a $7 million grant from the federal government for advanced research into the use of personalised medicine for common diseases.

The Queensland Brain Institute’s Professor Peter Visscher, Professor Naomi Wray and Associate Professor Jian Yang will use high-throughput computing power to analyse very large genomic data sets collected from hundreds of thousands of people.

The five-year research project will focus on neurological and psychiatric disorders, including motor neuron disease, Parkinson's disease, dementia, autism and schizophrenia.

Analysis methods and tools that will be developed as part of the project will be disseminated through software that will be applicable to future research into other common diseases, including diabetes and cancers.

UQ Vice Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj said the research reflects the digital revolution currently taking place in medicine.

“Big data technology created social media, and has transformed weather forecasting and mineral exploration,” he said.

“Transformation of the same magnitude is now coming to health care, as we move into the era of so-called personalised and precision medicine based on an individual’s genes.”

Queensland Brain Institute Professor Peter Visscher added that the research project places Australia at the forefront of the field of personalised medicine.

“Making sense of big data is a key challenge. This project will maintain and expand Australian capacity in statistical genomics, and train and mentor a new generation of researchers,” he said.

Image courtesy of Rodrigo Senna under CC