PSB 2015

Workshop: Including the Public in Research Projects
The impact on informatics arising from emerging health research paradigms

Chairs: Ricard Gayle, Mark Minie and Erik Nilsson

Two accelerating trends in biomedical informatics are producing disruptive effects on research projects. The first is the massive accumulation of data. This is partly due to the digitization of medical records, as well as the increasing computational power of smartphones, medical apps and powerful handheld medical devices. In addition, the accompanying onslaught of personal medical data arising from the quantified self and the personalized medicine revolutions will add tremendously to the informatic load.

The second trend may provide a novel approach for solving the difficulties of the first. The formerly separate and distinct boundaries between patient, researcher, student, funder and entrepreneur are overlapping. In some cases they are totally disappearing. This allows collaborations and sharing of data to happen in unique ways. It permits the creation of new research and analytical approaches for informatics to attack human health problems.

This workshop will examine the ways more direct interactions with the public are creating opportunities for the examination of human health problems. Appropriate topics would include:

  • 'omic sequencing of personal samples in order to create or analyze databases needed to examine specific areas of health
  • Development of database architectures that permit rapid and open collaborations between researchers, students, patients or entrepreneurs
  • Use of mobile technologies to permit the creation or analysis of personalized health databases covering a wide variety of health conditions
  • Development of novel algorithms by using open, collaborative competitions between individuals or groups

    Contact: Richard Gayle
    Email: gayler at spreadingscience dot com

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