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With a base in the University's Nuffield Department of Medicine and Department of Statistics, the collaboration will draw upon biostatistical and artificial intelligence (AI) expertise across Oxford, prioritising the development of innovative new tools and methods that translate to medical and biopharmaceutical research.

Two researchers female and male looking at a computer screen

The new methodologies arising from the partnership will enable researchers to utilise previously inaccessible patterns and associations from vast amounts of complex, multi-layered health data. The approach will inform better design, decision-making and interpretation in clinical research, speeding up discoveries that improve outcomes for patients.  

Professor Chris Holmes will co-lead the programme together with Dr Nicky Best from GSK. 

Professor Chris Holmes, Professor of Biostatistics in Genomics at the Big Data Institute, said: ‘By supporting small teams of researchers and data scientists working closely with senior Oxford and GSK scientists, the collaboration will harness Oxford’s strengths in statistics, mathematics, engineering science and AI to address major challenges and bottlenecks in developing new medicines.’

The research will generate methodology and insights widely applicable to many different areas of health and medical science, using publicly available data sets to facilitate development of open source tools and resources.

Nicky Best, Vice President and Head of Statistics and Data Science Innovation at GSK, said:

‘This collaboration will help further our work at GSK to understand the patients most likely to benefit from treatment, and accelerate and improve outcomes of our clinical trials. By combining statistical rigour with the power of AI we have the potential to get the right medicines to the right patients faster than before.’

Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Medicine website.