http://finance.sfgate.com/hearst.sfgate/news/read/20755882/U.S.

USISTF-organized Workshop Brings Together Medical and Computer Scientists from USA, Europe, Israel, and Middle East to Advance Knowledge Mining and Bioinformatics Tools for Personalized Diagnostics and Therapeutics

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The U.S-Israel Science and Technology Foundation, in partnership with the Florida International University, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, and the Technion, convened an international science workshop that brought together an international assembly of medical and computer scientists focused on how to use knowledge mining and bioinformatics tools to advance personalized diagnostics and therapeutics.  Sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the workshop was held on February 4th and 5th in Florence, Italy.

Participants included 40 medical and computer scientists representing the United States, Israel, Palestinian Territories, Canada, Italy, Turkey, the Netherlands and Germany.  The workshop’s four scientific sessions explored the policy implications of implementing personalized diagnostics based on big data analytics, the technological challenges in creating useable systems, the challenges using big data analytics to predict future health outcomes, and the needs of clinicians in utilizing decision support systems based on big data analytics.

Workshop highlights included a call-to-action for technological breakthroughs to fill the growing ‘translational white spaces’ among the many scientific and clinical disciplines throughout the personalized medicine cycle, up to end-user clinicians, patients, and consumers; business model innovation to accelerate the reduction of new discoveries to practice; and policies that facilitate both.

Uzia Galil, workshop participant and founder of the Galil Center for Medical Informatics, Telemedicine and Personalized Medicine at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, said, “Today, we have improved cooperation between the  biomedical and genetic researchers and the advanced electronic medical health records, but we need more workshops of this kind, that join interdisciplinary scientists to create the future of medicine by providing the relevant information to the general practitioner in front of the patient.”

Ann Liebschutz, Executive Director of the USISTF, said, “This workshop embodies the mission of USISTF programs- we convene top scientists and industry leaders to chart a path forward, to move today’s emerging technologies to become tomorrow’s deployable solutions.”

The group is preparing to deliver the scientific proceedings of the workshop to the National Science Foundation and broader community, and expects to publish them as Springer Verlag Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

The U.S.-Israel Science & Technology Foundation (USISTF), is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded by a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Israel Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor with a mission of strengthening the scientific and R&D relationship of the U.S. and Israel to promote economic growth through innovation. USISTF convenes U.S.-Israel scientific and industry conferences produces policy strategy and facilitates R&D framework programs that enable joint research activities.

For more information, contact Ann Liebschutz, Executive Director, U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Foundation.

Contact: Ann Liebschutz
Tel. 202/204-3102
E-Mail: ann@usistf.org