eHealth & Biomedical Informatics Methods (INFO90001)

AIMS

This subject familiarises students with core informatics tools and methods used in eHealth, translational research, simulation and modelling, and biomedical knowledge management. It also provides students with insights into research trends in the field of biomedical informatics.

INDICATIVE CONTENT

Five major topics will be covered in lectures, tutorials and hands-on computer labs:

1. How can we manage clinical data? Students will gain exposure to: informatics tools and methods for ehealth and broadband-enabled health, including shareable medical records, telehealth, mobile health; terminologies, coding and standards e.g. SNOMED-CT, HL7A and secure messaging, medical imaging (DICOM) and lab data (LOINC); and clinical decision support systems.

2. How can we integrate clinical data with molecular, population, environmental and other data sources? Students will gain exposure to: informatics tools and methods for translational research, including genomic data sources (microarray and next generation DNA sequencing); data integration and analysis platforms such as BioGrid, CaBIG. Gene ontology; and clinical research informatics (clinical trials).

3. How can we use computer models to simulate human biology and disease? Students will gain exposure to: informatics tools and methods for simulation and modelling; anatomical ontologies (FMA); VPH and Physiome platform; and infodemiology tools, systems medicine, virtual environments for clinical practice.

4. How can we manage health and biomedical knowledge? Students will gain exposure to: informatics tools and methods for biomedical informatics research, including bibliographic and web information; MeSH, and databases; biomedical text mining; social and semantic web for health and life sciences; technology assessment; and systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

5. How can we develop the next generation of health and bioinformatics tools and methods? Students will gain exposure to trends and advances, including extreme phenotyping, informatics for personalised, regenerative and nanomedicine.