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Data Science & Analytics Technologies

Tools and Methods for Extracting Insights and Value from Data to Advance Biomedical Research

April 2 - 4, 2025 ALL TIMES EDT

The Data Science & Analytics Technologies track delves into the cutting-edge tools, technologies, and methodologies that data scientists use to unlock deeper insights and drive value from their data. Presentations will highlight the shift towards scalable platforms and personalized analytics solutions, explore strategies for building data-driven organizations, and examine innovative approaches to data management and real-time analytics. We will also address how to frame critical questions that guide data investigations, assess the tangible impacts of data science in practical settings, and showcase the latest advancements in data science tools and their applications. Join us to explore how these technologies are transforming research and decision-making in the life sciences.

Wednesday, April 2

8:00 amRegistration Open and Morning Coffee

9:00 amRecommended Pre-Conference Workshops and Symposia*

On Wednesday, April 2, 2025, Cambridge Healthtech Institute is pleased to offer five pre-conference Workshops scheduled across two time slots (9:00 am–12:00 pm and 1:15–4:15 pm) and three Symposia from 9:00 am–4:20 pm. All are designed to be instructional, interactive, and provide in-depth information on a specific topic. They allow for one-on-one interaction and provide a great way to explain more technical aspects that would otherwise not be covered during the main conference tracks that take place Thursday–Friday.

*Separate registration required. See details on the Symposia here and details on the Workshops here.

4:40 pm

Organizer's Remarks

Cindy Crowninshield, Executive Event Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute

4:45 pm PLENARY KEYNOTE INTRODUCTION:Explainable AI in Drug Discovery

Kshitij Kumar, CEO & Founder, CLOVERTEX

4:55 pm PLENARY KEYNOTE PANEL DISCUSSION:

From Bytes to Breakthroughs: Next-Generation AI Driving the Future of Life Sciences and Healthcare

PANEL MODERATOR:

Abbie Celniker, PhD, Partner, Third Rock Ventures LLC

Next-Generation AI has the potential to revolutionize life sciences by delivering unprecedented insights, automation, and efficiency. But what will those industry transformations look like? This keynote panel convenes leaders from biopharma, healthcare, and emerging tech who are applying AI—generative models and beyond—to accelerate drug discovery, diagnostics, and patient care. Panelists will share real-world case studies, discuss overcoming both technical and organizational challenges, and explore how AI is evolving from predictive tools to autonomous, decision-making systems. Look beyond the hype to uncover where AI is making a tangible impact today and where the next frontiers of innovation lie.

PANELISTS:

Tala Fakhouri, PhD, MPH, Associate Director for Data Science and AI Policy, FDA (participating virtually)

Per Greisen, PhD, President, BioMap

Sofia Guerra, Vice President, Bessemer Venture Partners

Subha Madhavan, PhD, Vice President and Head, AI/ML, Quantitative and Digital Sciences, Pfizer Inc.

Sonya Makhni, MD, Medical Director, Mayo Clinic Platform

6:10 pmWelcome Reception in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)

The Bio-IT Kickoff Reception is a reunion—reconnect with friends, explore cutting-edge research, and celebrate innovation! Enjoy poster presentations, networking, and vote for the Best of Show and Poster awards.

7:25 pmClose of Day

Thursday, April 3

7:00 amRegistration and Morning Coffee

8:00 am

Organizer's Remarks

Allison Proffitt, Editorial Director, Bio-IT World and Clinical Research News

8:05 am PLENARY KEYNOTE INTRODUCTION:Build for Now & the Future: 8 Critical Pillars for Your Enterprise AI Strategy 

Jesse Cugliotta, Global Industry GTM Lead, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Snowflake, Inc.

HARNESSING AI FOR DRUG DISCOVERY: FROM INFRASTRUCTURE TO IMPLEMENTATION

8:15 am PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:

Data and Computing Infrastructure for the Life Sciences: Best Practices, Observations, and Lessons Learned

Chris Dwan, Independent Consultant, Dwan, LLC

This talk will provide practical, real-world advice based on Dwan's quarter century of experience designing and implementing high-performance computing and large-scale data systems for health care and the life sciences. Topics will include network architectures, cloud vs. "terrestrial" infrastructure, practical data strategies, information security, quality and compliance from R&D to the clinic, differentiated computing platforms, human and organizational factors, and of course AI.

8:45 am PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:

Generative AI, Aging Research and Robotics as a Platform for Drug Discovery: From Hype to Clinical Efficacy

Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, Founder & CEO, Insilico Medicine

9:15 amSession Q&A

9:30 amCoffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)

Start your morning with coffee, connections, and cutting-edge research! Enjoy poster presentations, network in the Exhibit Hall, vote for awards, and a chance at a fabulous raffle prize!

10:15 amOrganizer's Welcome Remarks

AI-POWERED TRANSFORMATION IN LIFE SCIENCES: DATA SCIENCE SOLUTIONS FOR REAL-WORLD IMPACT

10:20 am

Chairperson's Remarks

Steve Marshall, Senior Director, Data Science, Flagship Pioneering

10:25 am

Data Science and AI in Biomedical Research: Bridging Analysis with Advanced Technologies

Parthiban Srinivasan, PhD, Professor and Director, Centre for AI in Medicine, Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, India

This talk explores the integration of data science and AI in biomedical research, focusing on four key types of data analysis: descriptive, exploratory, predictive, and prescriptive. We will discuss how these methods, combined with advanced technologies like knowledge graphs (using Neo4J) and large language models (LLMs) from HuggingFace, are transforming the way biomedical data is analyzed and interpreted, driving innovation in drug discovery and clinical research.

10:55 am

Accelerating Real-World Evidence Extraction with LLM-Optimized Bioinformatics Pipelines in the Human Omics Hub

Weiwei Schultz, PhD, Distinguished Scientist, Data Science and Digital Health, Johnson and Johnson Innovative Medicine

The Human Omics Hub focuses on integrating multi-omics data management, starting with the UK Biobank. However, fragmented pipelines hinder scalability. This study employs large language models (LLMs) to automate standardized Nextflow pipeline creation for multi-omics data processing. By merging LLMs with expert input, we optimized the development process, significantly reducing coding time and costs while accelerating real-world evidence generation from diverse omics data, including EHR and genomics.

11:25 am

Leveraging Supercomputing for in silico Human Heart Models in Cardiac Drug Safety

Christopher Morton, CEO, ELEM Biotech

This presentation will explore the transformative potential of supercomputer-driven in silico trials for assessing cardiac drug safety. By employing advanced electrophysiological models of the human heart, we will demonstrate how these virtual trials can accurately predict drug-induced arrhythmias and QT interval prolongation, reducing reliance on traditional testing methods. Attendees will gain insights into integrating multi-scale modeling and AI into precision medicine, offering a scalable solution to enhance drug safety while minimizing costs and improving outcomes.

11:55 am

Enabling AI Workflows with Copyright

Michael Iarrobino, Director, Product Management, Copyright Clearance Center

Many AI systems depend on scientific, technical, and medical literature for model training and to support critical business workflows across numerous functions. As AI offerings mature, the intertwined responsibilities to copyright, data integrity, and data quality are essential to building user trust. This talk will explain key copyright considerations for your AI initiatives, identify solutions already available to address these needs, and set a vision for rights-aware AI systems that are able to achieve their promise.

12:10 pm Multi-Agent AI-Driven Pharmacovigilance for Transforming Drug Safety Intelligence

Deepak Gupta, Vice President & Global Head & Chief, Digital Service Offerings, Tech Mahindra, Inc.

As the pharmaceutical industry navigates volumes of data during trials and post-launch, our collaboration with NVIDIA leverages generative AI and multi-agent systems to streamline pharmacovigilance process. Together, we are revolutionizing drug safety management and using the innovative AI-driven framework to develop multiple use cases for our global customers. We believe AI is ideal for monitoring medicines throughout their lifecycle to support safety. Integrating AI into the Tech Mahindra TENO framework with NVIDIA AI Enterprise software enhances pharmacovigilance by augmenting human capabilities to help identify potential safety issues more effectively.

12:25 pm From Data to Insights—Learnings from Elsevier’s Digital Journey

Joe Mullen, Director Data Science & Professional Services, SciBite Ltd.

George Georghiou, PhD, Senior Knowledge Strategy Manager, Data Science for Life Science, Elsevier

As leaders in data science and analytics, Elsevier is dedicated to meeting customer needs amidst rapid technological advances. Our ongoing digital journey focuses on delivering innovative solutions based on trusted data. By engaging with customers, we understand their challenges and have adopted various technologies to enhance information access for scientists. Join us as we discuss our applications of, and our lessons learned on GenAI use to improve customer outcomes.

12:55 pmSession Break and Transition to Lunch

1:05 pm LUNCHEON PRESENTATION: Scaling Up Public Data to Build Foundation Models and Advanced Analytics for Drug R&D

Federico Demasi, Senior Director, Bioinformatics, ZS Associates

Etai Jacob, Head of Applied Data Science and AI, Oncology R&D, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals

Gustavo Arango Argoty, Associate Director, Data Science & Bioinformatics, Oncology R&D, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals

Biomedical data is often fragmented, hindering AI-driven insights. This project tackles two key challenges: (1) inconsistent data formats limiting AI readiness and (2) complexity in integrating molecular and clinical data. We built ETL pipelines to standardize 1.1M+ data samples into a Common Data Model, ensuring AI/ML compatibility. Scaling multimodal foundation models has the potential to impact drug target identification, efficacy, and personalized treatment, improving patient outcomes.

1:35 pmRefreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)

Bio-IT's hall is bigger than ever—one break won’t cut it! Enjoy dessert and coffee after lunch, explore booths and posters, vote for awards, and participate in our raffle for a chance to win a prize!

UNLOCKING THE VALUE OF BIOMEDICAL DIGITAL TWINS: FROM CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGIES IN BIOPHARMA R&D TO PERSONALIZED PATIENT CARE

2:25 pm

Chairperson's Remarks

Eric Stahlberg, PhD, Executive Administrative Director, Institute for Data Science in Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center

2:30 pm

Unlocking the Value of Biomedical Digital Twins: From Cutting-Edge Technologies in BioPharma R&D to Personalized Patient Care 

Bissan Al-Lazikani, PhD, Professor, Genomic Medicine; Director, Therapeutics Data Science, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Douglas E. Kiehl, Senior Vice President, BioCrossroads

Andy Kilianski, PhD, Program Manager, Health Science Futures, ARPA-H

Eric Stahlberg, PhD, Executive Administrative Director, Institute for Data Science in Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Digital twin technology, already transformative in aerospace and energy, holds vast potential in biopharmaceutical R&D and personalized healthcare. By integrating extensive biomedical data, AI innovations, and precision medicine, digital twins can advance disease prediction, optimize treatments, and improve oncology and patient outcomes. Gain valuable insights into applying digital twins and predictive models within oncology and biopharma, addressing technical and data-related challenges, emerging AI uses, and future pathways that prioritize patient-centered care.

4:00 pm Optimizing Formulations and Processes: From Design to Technology Transfer

Robin Blankenbaker, Life Sciences Portfolio Leader, Life Sciences, Siemens Digital Industries Software

Multi-scale simulation is used in R&D and throughout experimentation to reduce design space and enhance product understanding which leads to optimal formulation, quality, and performance. In silico approaches using simulation and Digital Twins allows scientists to conduct early experiments without expensive materials and labor, predict drug behavior, and design effective formulations. This method is scalable, less error-prone, and reproducible, accelerating product development and combining virtual and real-world data for valuable insights. Technology transfer solutions then speed up the path from lab to production by leveraging Enterprise Recipe Management (ERM) for seamless knowledge transfer and efficient management of product specifications. Pharmaceutical companies can accelerate timelines, reduce costs, and improve product development through simulation, Digital Twins, and efficient tech transfer.

4:30 pmBest of Show Awards Reception in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)

Unwind with colleagues at our lively reception! Explore posters, vote for the best, network with exhibitors, enjoy a drink, and try to win a raffle prize. Celebrate Best of Show winners!

5:45 pmClose of Day

Friday, April 4

7:00 amRegistration Open and Morning Coffee

7:00 amQuick Bytes & Networking Breakfast—Lifted Rooftop Restaurant & Bar (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)

Start your morning with ‘Quick Bytes & Networking’! Enjoy a cozy restaurant-style setting, quick bites, and speed networking. Connect, converse, and energize your Bio-IT experience before the plenary keynote!

8:00 am

Organizer's Remarks

Cindy Crowninshield, Executive Event Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute

8:05 am

Innovative Practices Awards: Excellence in Technological Innovation

Allison Proffitt, Editorial Director, Bio-IT World and Clinical Research News

Since 2003, Bio-IT World has hosted an elite awards program with the goal of highlighting outstanding examples of how technology innovations and strategic initiatives are being applied to advance life sciences research. The 2025 Innovative Practices Awards winners represent excellence in innovation in the areas of informatics, pre-competitive collaboration, clinical and health IT, and genomics. Companies driving the winning entries include Genmab, Genedata, NHS England, IQVIA, Pistoia Alliance, Regeneron, and Quris-AI. For more details about the Awards, visit www.bioitworldexpo.com/innovativepractices.

8:20 am PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:

The Longitude Prize on ALS: A Groundbreaking Global Prize Harnessing the Power of AI to Drive Treatment for ALS

Tris Dyson, Founder, Challenge Works

Jeffrey D. Rothstein, MD, PhD, Professor, Neurology and Neuroscience; Director, Brain Science Institute, Johns Hopkins University

The Longitude Prize series brings together the brightest minds to solve the world's most challenging innovation problems. The Longitude Prize on ALS, launching in June 2025, will bring together computational biologists, neurodegenerative researchers and AI-driven biotech globally to uncover novel therapeutic targets for ALS. 

ADVANCING DRUG DISCOVERY AND HEALTHCARE THROUGH DATA-DRIVEN INNOVATION: FROM GENOMICS TO THERAPEUTICS

8:35 am PLENARY KEYNOTE INTRODUCTION:Shaping the Next Era of Precision Health with Multiomics and AI-Driven Predictive Insights

Rami Mehio, Vice President, Head of Global Software and Informatics, Illumina, Inc.

8:45 am PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:

Scaling Genomic Medicine: Transforming Newborn Screening through Informatics and Innovation

Robert C. Green, MD, MPH, Professor and Director of Genomes2People Research, Mass General Brigham, Broad Institute, Ariadne Labs, and Harvard Medical School

The BabySeq Project has pioneered the integration of genomic sequencing into newborn and childhood screening, uncovering unexpected risk variants and transforming healthcare delivery. This keynote explores the groundbreaking progress in genomic medicine, featuring real-world stories of families impacted by these discoveries. Learn about the informatics challenges and innovative solutions required to scale genomic screening for national and global implementation, reshaping the future of precision medicine.

9:15 am PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:

Unlocking the Power of Machine Learning and Data-at-Scale to Deliver with Speed the Best Therapeutic Candidates

Justin M. Scheer, PhD, Vice President In Silico Discovery & Head, Molecular Computational Team, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine

The challenges of high costs, lengthy timelines, and significant attrition have prompted our industry to integrate AI/ML into all aspects of the business. This presentation highlights J&J's strategic investments in AI/ML technologies to enhance the drug discovery processes, including molecule design and optimization. By investing in these technologies with a modality agnostic approach, J&J aims to tackle the hardest targets in drug discovery, ultimately increasing the success rate of delivering better molecules faster.

9:45 amCoffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Competition Winners Announced (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)

Bio-IT is all about connections! Explore booths, award-winning posters, and network with clients, colleagues, and exhibitors. Grab coffee, build relationships, and stay for a chance to win a raffle prize!

10:30 amOrganizer's Remarks

PATHWAYS TO IMPACT: DRIVING RESEARCH AND INNOVATION THROUGH INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY IN DATA SCIENCE AND LIFE SCIENCES TO ADVANCE HEALTH AND PRECISION MEDICINE

10:35 am

Chairperson's Remarks

Nick Lynch, PhD, Founder & CTO, Curlew Research; Member, FAIRplus Consortium

10:40 am

Pathways to Impact: Driving Research and Innovation through Inclusion and Diversity in Data Science and Life Sciences to Advance Health and Precision Medicine

Jason Alexander, Chief Revenue Officer & Co-Founder, BANKW Staffing, LLC

Kristen Cleveland, Business Development & Workforce Strategy Expert

Kevin M. Ileka, PhD, Associate Director, Worldwide Immunology Communications, Bristol Myers Squibb Co.

Martin Leach, PhD, MBA, Chief Data Officer, Black Canyon Consulting LLC

This panel will examine how inclusion and diversity are essential for advancing research and innovation in data science and life sciences. By embracing diverse perspectives, organizations can boost innovation, enhance problem-solving, and attract top talent. Attendees will discover effective strategies for creating inclusive teams, the impact of diverse talent on research outcomes, and the advantages of diversity in navigating industry changes and improving health outcomes in precision medicine.

12:10 pm From Data to Decisions: Unlocking Insights with ZONTAL Analytics

Christof Gaenzler, PhD, Director of Analytics, Professional Services, ZONTAL

Discover how ZONTAL Analytics empowers life science companies with advanced data analytics, operations intelligence, and visualization services. Our expertise in business process analysis, data integration, and interactive reporting enables organizations to optimize lab operations, enhance R&D processes, and make data-driven decisions. We will demonstrate how ZONTAL Analytics provides near real-time insights, supports regulatory compliance, and unlocks the full potential of your research data.

12:40 pm Unlocking Data-Driven Insights: Activating Medical Imaging & Video Data for Innovation with Flywheel

Shelby Wyatt, Chief Product Officer, Flywheel

Efficiently managing, activating & analyzing medical imaging data remains a challenge for Life Science and Healthcare organizations, particularly at the scale necessary to discover novel biomarkers, develop AI solutions, or uncover patient insights. Flywheel’s end-to-end imaging and video management platform streamlines aggregation, curation, sharing & analysis of complex datasets accelerating drug development, multi-center studies, research breakthroughs, & AI innovation.

12:55 pm Agentic AI: Strategies for Turning Hype into Impact

Christopher McSpiritt, VP Life Sciences Strategy, Life Sciences Strategy, Domino Data Lab Inc

Agentic AI offers both huge opportunities and significant risks. It can boost productivity and innovation - or lead to wasted investment, PoC purgatory, and regulatory fines. But what is it and how do you craft a strategy that delivers real ROI?

This session cuts through the hype to explore how to develop, operationalize, and govern Agentic AI effectively. We’ll cover real-world use cases, key capabilities for deployment, and best practices to maximize impact while minimizing risk.

1:10 pmSession Break and Transition to Lunch

1:20 pmLuncheon Presentation (Sponsorship Opportunity Available) or Enjoy Lunch on Your Own

1:50 pmRefreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with Last Chance for Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)

Feeling tired? Recharge during the final Networking Exhibit Hall break! Visit booths, explore posters, connect with peers, and turn in your Game Cards for a chance to win a raffle prize.

TRENDS FROM THE TRENCHES: BRIDGING TRADITIONAL INSIGHTS WITH INNOVATIVE ADVANCEMENTS

2:30 pm

Chairperson's Remarks

Dirk Petersen, Director of Supercomputing Center, Oregon State University

2:35 pm

Trends from the Trenches

Ari E. Berman, PhD, CEO, BioTeam, LLC

Since 2010, “Trends from the Trenches” has been a cornerstone of the Bio-IT program, delivering candid and occasionally blunt assessments of the most impactful and overhyped IT technologies in life sciences. This talk will provide a deep dive into computing, storage, cloud, data science, machine learning, and more, with a focus on supporting data-intensive science. Looking ahead, this talk will share forward-thinking predictions about emerging technologies and trends poised to shape the future of life sciences innovation, offering actionable insights for navigating the next wave of IT evolution.

3:05 pm

In the Trenches with AI Supercomputing: Driving Innovation in Life Sciences and Quantum Simulations

Dirk Petersen, Director of Supercomputing Center, Oregon State University

Launching in 2026, a new AI supercomputer powered by Nvidia’s latest Rubin-generation GPUs will transform research at Oregon State University’s Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex. This mini talk highlights its capabilities, from accelerating protein structure prediction to advancing quantum simulations to something completely new and different. Learn how you can get access to this cutting-edge resource and drive innovation in life sciences and quantum computing simulations and discover opportunities to collaborate.

3:15 pm

Transforming Big Data into Actionable Insights: Leveraging the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) for Life Sciences and Public Health

J. Rodney Brister, PhD, Acting Program Head, Sequence Read Archive, NCBI, NLM, NIH

As the world's largest publicly available repository of raw sequence data, the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) plays a pivotal role in advancing public health and life sciences research. This presentation highlights state-of-the-art tools and strategies for managing and analyzing the SRA’s massive datasets, showcasing its impact on infectious disease surveillance, genomic epidemiology, and precision medicine. Discover how innovative informatics solutions are transforming raw data into actionable insights for global health challenges.

3:30 pm

The Biologist Explores Learning: Insights on LLMs, Deep Learning, and Personal Discoveries

Brian Osborne, PhD, Senior Principal Consultant, BioTeam, LLC

Many biologists who have spent years coding and thinking in terms of bioinformatics - protein and DNA sequence, genomics - are now engaging with machine learning, NLP, and LLMs. In this talk a bioinformaticist will talk about the many lessons learned and twists and turns encountered in these new fields. Topics will include new ways of thinking about computing with CPUs and GPUs, re-representing data, training, iteration and validation, version control and environments, new definitions of “pipeline”,  and coming face-to-face with prediction and statistics.

3:45 pmSession Q&A

4:05 pmClose of Conference







Conference Tracks