The International Conference “Digital Age & Technological Advances for sustainable development” IC-DATA 2022 was held last week. An event organised by the Faculty of Science and Technology of Al-Hoceima in Morocco. DATA is a comprehensive conference focusing on the various aspects of information technology advances for sustainable development.

The main objective of DATA is to enhance research by reaching the maximum capacity and fostering open debates on digitisation and recent technologies for sustainable development.

Juan Manuel Corchado during the presentation of the DATA 2022 Conference.

In this regard, Juan Manuel Corchado, director of the BISITE Research Group and president of the AIR Institute participated in the third DATA conference to present one of the projects that we are developing. It is a project on a next generation sequencing tool called DeepNGS, that automates the genetic analysis workflow and can help in diagnostic procedures.

Next-generation sequencing: from theory to practice

Also known as massively parallel or deep sequencing, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) techniques have revolutionised genomic research today. The use of the latest NGS technologies (cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning) makes it possible to sequence entire human genomes in a single day. Previous conventional Sanger technologies took more than a decade to complete this process.

However, NGS has not yet become an everyday clinical practice. End-user applications must meet the real needs of every clinician, every lab technician, every DNA analysis lab, every researcher.

Juan Manuel Corchado during the presentation of the DATA 2022 Conference.

DeepNGS is a fast and automated platform for clinicians and researchers. It processes sequenced human DNA samples and obtains a set of key genetic variants for the clinical diagnosis of any patient.

Our platform incorporates all the patient’s genetic data in a highly secure cloud environment and achieves a higher level of accuracy. It is able to digest the information to ensure the accuracy of the final diagnosis and the appropriateness of treatment recommendations. We are progressively incorporating ML algorithms to optimise the analysis process and achieve even better and more reliable results.

Once the alignment, variant detection and annotation stages have been completed, the intuitive DeepNGS interface provides an overview and a large number of visualisations from which conclusions can be drawn immediately.

It has been an excellent opportunity to showcase the work we are doing at both BISITE and AIR Institute for the advancement of scientific research.

Posted by Juan M. Corchado

Juan Manuel Corchado (15 May 1971, Salamanca, Spain) is Professor at the University of Salamanca. He has been Vice-Rector for Research from 2013 to 2017 and Director of the Science Park of the University of Salamanca. Elected as Dean of the Faculty of Science twice, he holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Salamanca and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of the West of Scotland. He leads the renowned BISITE (Bioinformatics, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology) Research Group, created in 2000. Director of the IoT Digital Innovation Hub and President of the AIR Institute, J. M. Corchado is also Visiting Professor at the Osaka Institute of Technology since January 2015, Visiting Professor at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Member of the Advisory Group on Online Terrorist Propaganda of the European Counter Terrorism Centre (EUROPOL). J. M. Corchado has been president of the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, and academic coordinator of the University Institute for Research in Art and Animation Technology at the University of Salamanca, as well as researcher at the Universities of Paisley (UK), Vigo (Spain) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK). He currently combines all his activity with the direction of Master programmes in Security, Digital Animation, Mobile Telephony, Information Systems Management, Internet of Things, Social Media, 3D Design and Printing, Blockchain, Z System, Industry 4.0, Agile Project Management, and Smart Cities & Intelligent Buildings, at the University of Salamanca and his work as editor-in-chief of the journals ADCAIJ (Advances in Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence Journal), OJCST (Oriental Journal of Computer Science and Technology) or Electronics MDPI (Computer Science & Engineering section). J. M. Corchado mainly works on projects related to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, Fog Computing, Edge Computing, Smart Cities, Smart Grids and Sentiment Analysis. He has recently been included in the board of trustees of the AstraZeneca Foundation, along with other health professionals and researchers recognised for bringing scientific knowledge closer to society.

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