The University of Edinburgh is an extraordinary place, full of extraordinary people making a positive impact on all our communities. This month's highlight is Susan Rosser who is Professor of Synthetic Biology, a joint appointment between the School of Biological Sciences and School of Engineering.
An essential purpose of synthetic biology is to expose the design principles of natural biological systems. Like our fingerprints, our physical makeup is distinct to each individual. Therefore, when disease or illness strikes, treatments designed for a specific condition can produce different outcomes as they interact with each patient's physiology. Synthetic biological devices allow us to intuitively capture the behaviour ranges generated by simple biological circuits to gain insight into natural processes.
There are many exciting potential applications for AI in the stretched healthcare industry, particularly in disease detection and prediction through the analysis of medical records and imaging exams. AI is already prominent in this area but currently relies on high input levels from medical experts to organise data and guide algorithms to identify anomalies.
Our research will enable the development of advanced theory and computational methods to extract information and knowledge from healthcare records and imaging exams without the need for 'human' curation and supervision. The research promises to reduce healthcare costs and improve the quality of care by assisting or automating current workflows.
Our performance in everyday noisy situations is known to depend on aural and visual senses. The ‘multi-modal’ nature of speech perception has been confirmed by research, which has established that listeners unconsciously lip-read to improve the intelligibility of signals amid background noise.
