Applied AI advancing biomedicine and individualized medicine for space exploration

Humanity is leaving low-Earth orbit for the first time in 50 years. With this exciting new era of exploration comes a panoply of unresolved medical research challenges related to extreme radiation exposure, reduced gravity, immune function degradation, anaemia and lunar and martian dust. Collectively these challenges are called ‘RIDGE’ (Radiation, Isolation, Distance (from Earth), Gravity and hostile off-world Environments).

Machine Learning, integrated-omic and individual quantification data can be viewed as a Therapy Toolbox to reframe patient disease heterogeneity as individualised healthcare management. Diseases like cancer (in space caused by immense radiation exposure) become chronic illnesses that can be managed and allow patients to live long, disease free or disease managed lives.

To fulfil this vision we are looking to develop a focus on algorithmic approaches for exploration medicine based on observational data, that can examine the causal drivers and provide a much-needed systematic perspective into the mechanisms driving disease, from initial diagnosis to the management of chronic conditions caused during space travel, but also strategies for disease prevention on Earth.

FDL MED will be based in Europe in partnership with Nvidia and Oxford University.