April 10, 2010
School of Engineering, Amritapuri
The University of Chicago has invited Dr. Ramachandra Kaimal, Br. Pradeep Achan and Br. Anand Ramani of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham for discussions on technical collaboration.
“The University of Chicago has had 85 Nobel Laureates as faculty,” shared Prof. Jay Misra who is facilitating the visit. “This is more than Cambridge, Oxford or Harvard. We could say that this is one of the best research universities in the world.”
“For this university to recognize our talents, shows our progress to-date,” he added.
In December 2009, Dr. Natalia Maltsev, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Chicago visited Amrita. The purpose of her visit was exploring opportunities for collaborations with Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. (See News )
During the visit, the Amrita team will receive an introduction to the GEDI database. Developed by Dr. Natalia Maltsev, this database could facilitate the development of an integrated bioinformatics platform.
“The platform would help us develop networks-based disease models for discovery, identification and characterization of genes and gene networks involved in complex multi-gene disorders,” Dr. Natalia Maltsev had shared during her visit to Amrita.
At Amrita, Br. Pradeep Achan and Br. Anand Ramani have developed large, distributed computing architectures to support administrative and clinical functions in the 1300-bed hospital, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, as well as, the 5-campus Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.
The University of Chicago will seek their technical expertise as they embark on the development of the bioinformatics platform. Dr. Ramachandra Kaimal, HoD of the Computer Science Dept at Amritapuri, will also participate in the discussions.
The Department of Human Genetics at the University of Chicago is contained within the Division of Biological Sciences. The Amrita team will also receive an overview about other Biological Sciences projects.
Topics of discussion will include computational approaches to studies of complex human disorders, data requirements to support translational research and joint development of integrated databases. The GEDI architecture and design will also be discussed.
We wish the Amrita team good luck as they embark on this trip. The team will be in the University of Chicago on April 12, 2010 and discussions will continue till April 16, 2010.
