AI INNOVATIONS FOR REAL-WORLD HEALTHCARE APPLICATIONS

Queen’s University Belfast is at the forefront of groundbreaking research in developing and applying artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to discover and understand the processes that govern life. Our work focuses on developing data driven AI methods to identify and understand the characteristic signatures of diseases, generate new hypotheses, and identify the causal relationships that influence our health. This work will ultimately improve disease diagnosis, enable personalized treatments, and accelerate drug discovery. By integrating computational techniques with clinical expertise, Queen’s researchers aim to address critical healthcare challenges and translate our research into innovative solutions with global impact. 

IDENTIFYING THE SIGNATURES AND CAUSES OF DISEASE FROM BIG DATA

The healthcare sector generates vast amounts of complex data from patient records, medical imaging, and genomic sequencing. There are also huge amounts of data held in research labs that is used in the scientific discovery process. If this data could be integrated and understood, we could gain significant new insights into how fundamental processes of life affect and influence our health. Recent advances in AI offer huge promise in understanding data at the scale that is needed, but we need AI to be able to both identify patterns in data and explain them. This is a major gap in current AI Approaches.

Queen’s researchers are developing new AI-based approaches to the analysis of both laboratory and clinical data to discover the signatures and causes of disease and to identify new hypotheses that could lead to new treatments, enhancing both diagnostic precision and patient care. 

A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO SOLVING COMPLEX PROBLEMS

Queen’s University Belfast adopts a multidisciplinary approach, combining expertise in AI, bioinformatics, and clinical science. Collaborating with hospitals and industry partners, the researchers have developed:

• AI-Powered Diagnostic Tools: Leveraging deep learning, these tools analyze medical images with greater speed and accuracy than traditional methods. For example, algorithms developed at Queen’s can identify early signs of diseases like cancer or Alzheimer’s, offering hope for earlier and more effective interventions
• Personalized Medicine Platforms: By integrating data from basic science and clinical research Queen’s researchers are developing tools that will help us to understand the unique biochemical profiles of individual patients, improving specificity of treatment and improving outcomes
• Automated Drug Discovery Pipelines: AI-driven systems are being created to identify and optimize potential drug candidates, significantly shortening the time and cost associated with developing new treatments.  

“Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize medicine, and our work at Queen’s is focused on developing new AI technologies to improve our understanding of life by revealing the signatures and causes of disease, and generate data-driven hypotheses that provide new lenses through which to understand our health. By combining computational innovation with clinical expertise, we are creating tools that will ultimately lead to improved patient care across the healthcare spectrum.” 

- Professor Iain Styles, Queen’s University Belfast 

FROM RESEARCH LABS TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

The innovations at Queen’s University Belfast are making significant contributions to global healthcare.

Key impacts include:

• Improved Diagnostic Accuracy: AI diagnostic tools developed at Queen’s are undergoing clinical trials in collaboration with leading hospitals in the UK. 
  Enhanced Patient Outcomes: Personalized medicine platforms help clinicians select the most effective treatments for patients
• Accelerated Drug Development: Automated drug discovery innovations are helping pharmaceutical companies bring life-saving medications to market faster, addressing urgent healthcare needs worldwide
• Capacity Building and Knowledge Transfer: Queen’s actively trains healthcare professionals and researchers in using AI tools, ensuring these innovations are widely accessible and implemented effectively. Workshops and partnerships equip clinicians with the skills needed to embrace AI-driven solutions. 

Impact related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Learn more about Queen’s University’s commitment to nurturing a culture of sustainability and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through research and education.