The Hong Kong government via InnoHK has provided HK$17 million ($2.1 million) to set up the Sydney site of a global health AI and robotics data research laboratory. 

The hub is part of the Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health (D24H), a joint project led by the University of Hong Kong in collaboration with the University of Sydney, University College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

D24H is under InnoHK's AI and Robotics cluster which "collates and curates massive, unique data resources and develop novel deep, frontier analytics" to protect the global public health and enhance individual healthcare through precision medicine.

WHY IT MATTERS

The Sydney hub will see the development of tools to process biomedical data and new computational approaches in solving major issues in the risk prediction of infectious diseases. This research using biomedical data and omic-based bioinformatics will be led by Professor Jean Yang, who also heads the hub. 

She will also collaborate with Professor Stephen Simpson of the Charles Perkins Centre, which prioritises the understanding of omics responses to diet, exercise and sleep. Omics science is the collective study of biomarkers to understand the structure, function and dynamics of an organism. 

Another project will develop techniques in meta-genomics – a process that simultaneously sequences the genetic material of all organisms in a biological sample – to help identify potential disease outbreak-causing microbes in animals and humans and build software to quickly analyse that data. 

"This project will allow us to develop novel approaches to sort through [meta-genomics] data to produce meaningful information quickly and accurately to identify newly emerging pathogens," said Professor Edward Holmes of the Faculties of Science and Medicine and Health.

THE LARGER TREND

This week, the Chinese University of Hong Kong also established six centres under InnoHK, covering the areas of health, biomedicine, robotics and artificial intelligence. 

Meanwhile, in Singapore, SingHealth and Singapore Innovate will partner over a three year period to develop and adopt AI and other emerging tech to enhance diagnostics, treatment, healthcare delivery and clinical outcomes. They will focus on three main areas: advancing AI thought leadership, supporting the growth of health and biomedical science startups, and building a talent pool for health innovation.