NJ researchers develop A.I. to allow anyone to predict diseases

🔵 Rutgers researchers developed software to predict diseases in humans

🔵 It's called IntelliGenes

🔵The software was designed so anyone, including students can use the platform

NEW BRUNSWICK — A team of Rutgers health researchers developed a first-of-its-kind software that can predict diseases in humans.

“IntelliGenes” combines artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches to measure the significance of genomic biomarkers to help predict diseases in individuals, said Dr. Zeeshan Ahmed, assistant professor of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and lead author of the study.

“These biomarkers can detect whether somebody already has or may develop a disease such as cardiovascular, cancer, and oral infectious diseases later in their life,” Ahmed said.

The software, which took more than two years and several stages to complete, is designed to let people without bioinformatics expertise or access to supercomputers do serious genetic research, and hopefully, will speed up medical progress worldwide.

It combines conventional statistical methods with cutting-edge machine-learning algorithms to produce personalized patient predictions and a visual representation of the biomarkers significant to disease prediction, Ahmed explained.

A study published in Bioinformatics by Oxford Academic Journal explains how IntelliGenes can be utilized by a wide range of users to analyze multi-genomic and clinical data.

Ahmed and members of his Rutgers lab designed this software so anyone can use the platform, including students, or those without strong knowledge of bioinformatics techniques or access to high-performing computers.

“The software is open-source which means it is freely available to the public. They can download it, and utilize it, and even if they would like to further customize it, they can do it, but it cannot use it for commercial purposes,” Ahmed said.

In another study, published in Scientific Reports, the researchers applied “IntelliGenes” to discover novel biomarkers and predict cardiovascular disease with high accuracy.

“IntelliGenes can support personalized early detection of common and rare diseases in individuals, as well as open avenues for broader research ultimately leading to new interventions and treatments,” Ahmed said.

The source code of IntelliGenes is available on GitHub and Code Ocean.

More information on the software published in Bioinformatics can be found here.

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