When Hamid Bolouri, PhD, was a computer science professor in England, one project changed the trajectory of his career. It was the late 1990s and his team was examining exactly how the brain forms new networks, aiming to inform artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
“I just got absorbed into biology and never looked back,” he says. “I started using AI methods to analyze biology rather than using biology to inspire computer science.”
Now at BRI, Dr. Bolouri is an expert in using computer science to advance biomedical research. Working with Soheil Meshinchi, MD, PhD, and his team at Fred Hutch Cancer Center, they made a recent discovery that may lead to new treatments for certain forms of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
“We have effective treatments for most pediatric AML, but some types of AML still have a very poor prognosis,” Dr. Bolouri says. “We discovered that inflammation plays a role in several of these deadly subtypes of AML. And we may have found a way to target that inflammation to get better clinical outcomes.”
