Category: AI

EPSRC and BBSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Engineering Biology

Posted on by wayne.powell

The Engineering Biology Centre for Doctoral Training (EngBioCDT) is one of nine new CDTs at the University of Bristol, which will equip and nurture engineering and science students, thanks to a nationally-leading £57 million funding boost from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and its Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Engineering biology is one of the five critical technologies predicted to deliver prosperity to the UK as highlighted in the Government’s National Vision for Engineering Biology (December 2023). Sitting at the confluence of Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, AI and Data Science, it has the potential to provide innovative solutions to global challenges for sustainable food, materials and chemicals, combatting climate change, and technologies for improved healthcare, by harnessing biology in new ways and creating biomimetic and engineered living systems capable of surpassing what is possible from single-discipline approaches.

The EngBioCDT, run jointly with the University of Oxford, will provide bespoke cohort-based training with a focus on how engineering biology concepts and technologies can be translated into products with real-world impact. It will include teaching on: modelling and control theory, artificial intelligence and machine learning, gene circuit design, protein design and engineering, and tissue engineering.

The EngBioCDT will train 68 students over five cohorts between 2024 and 2032 in collaboration with over 20 partners including industry, startups, innovation specialists, and national institutes.

The Director of the EngBioCDT, Dr Lucia Marucci, said: “I am so excited to start directing our new Engineering Biology Centre for Doctoral Training in partnership with the University of Oxford, and cannot wait to welcome our new students in September. Many thanks to the EPSRC and BBSRC for funding our programme.”

At Bristol, the CDT will be managed also by Prof Imre Berger, Dr Tom Gorochowski (Deputy Director), Prof Jen McManus and Prof Dek Woolfson.

Biosciences and AI merge with launch of new UKRI Network

Posted on by wayne.powell

Bringing artificial intelligence (AI) and biosciences together to tackle major societal challenges is the aim of a new five-year £1.6m project involving the University of Bristol and several other UK universities.

The Artificial Intelligence in the Biosciences (AIBIO-UK) network will aim to connect leading AI and core bioscience researchers to unravel biological fundamentals. The ultimate aim of this network is to enhance AI capabilities within the biosciences and be the central point for resources at the interface between AI and the biosciences, placing a strong emphasis on responsible research and innovation and the ethics of AI.

Funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, AIBIO-UK will provide bio-scientists with practical skills and knowledge in AI to benefit their research, while equipping AI researchers with knowledge of the main challenges facing the biosciences. AIBIO-UK will develop new interdisciplinary ways of working via pilot project funding, and develop Grand Challenges of AI in bioscience.

It aims to:

  • Create a stronger community profile for AI in the biosciences in the UK
  • Facilitate networking, knowledge exchange and the formation of new collaborations
  • Support greater awareness, education and training relating to AI within the bioscience community

Dr Lucia Marucci from the School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology, and Co-Director of the Bristol BioDesign Institute, is leading Bristol’s contribution to this project. She said: “AI systems are used in wide-ranging applications, from self-driving cars to language translation.

“Recent AI applications to the biosciences have been promising but efforts have been sparse and uncoordinated, and limited to groups or companies with specific expertise.

“The network vision is to bring together AI and core bioscience researchers to address huge societal challenges we face.”

The network, led by the University of Nottingham, includes University of Bristol, Quadram Institute Bioscience, the University of Manchester, University of Aberdeen, King’s College London and Aberystwyth University.

The management team is planning a series of community-created events over the next five years to help raise awareness across the UK biosciences community of exciting, cutting-edge AI development, the opportunities it presents for research collaboration, as well as its challenges.

 A launch event will be held on 11 January next year in Birmingham.

(This news story was originally published by the University of Bristol)