Biomedical Sciences partners with Nvidia to develop cutting-edge AI neuroscience tools

The Department of Biomedical Sciences has entered a six-month partnership with Nvidia to utilize the AI computing company's processing power for the creation of state-of-the-art computational systems. These systems translate neuroscience discoveries into more efficient artificial intelligence tools which can then be used to advance science and related fields.

The team of neuroscientists in the 4-CYTE AI Foundry are weaving Nvidia's high-powered server into Marquette's existing academic structure. The foundry captures the best practices inherent in academia and the private sector to improve the efficiency and impact of activities involving research and scholarship, student development and community service.

Dr. David Baker, department chair, says creating technology at the intersection of neuroscience and machine learning is at the center of the foundry's work. Baker says the technology this partnership creates is expected to generate sustained bidirectional advancement of both fields while producing deployable, sector-defining technologies.

For example, the team is studying how the brain processes information with minimal energy use to learn how to significantly reduce the power reliance of modern computing. In turn, the team is using advanced models to analyze complex scientific and clinical trial data sets to improve the treatment of brain disorders.

He adds that machine learning will be a critical making real gains in human health and societal betterment.

"In the history of neuroscience research, 70% of all studies have been published in the past 26 years," Baker says. "During this century, neuroscientists have had access to resources at a historical level. Despite abundant resource availability and subsequent productivity, key industry metrics, including disease-adjusted life years from the World Health Organization, reveal that brain disorders have worsened this century. It's progressed to the point that the disease burden of brain disorders now exceeds that of cancer or cardiovascular disease.

"Customizing AI and machine learning to analyze neuroscience data could enable biomarker and diagnostic platforms for early disease detection."

Dr. William E. Cullinan, dean of the College of Health Sciences and a neuroscientist, applauded the department's vision to make Marquette a leader in the neuroscience space by pursuing innovative ways to create better health outcomes for people who suffer from brain diseases.

"This partnership is a first step for the department on a journey that can end in significant neuroscience advances in a way that aligns with our mission," Cullinan says. "Not only are faculty members in the group making great use of decades worth of global neuroscience research, they are doing so in a way that trains our students both to think critically and to put to use what we know about brain mechanisms of disease"