The availability of biomedical information, also known as ‘big data’, is increasing rapidly. The analysis of this data provides an opportunity for transforming the scale and efficiency of large-scale clinical research and care.
The Big Data Institute (BDI) brings together researchers from different disciplines to focus on the analysis of large, complex, heterogeneous data sets for research into the causes, consequences, prevention and treatment of disease. Their work is invaluable in identifying the associations between lifestyle, genetic variants, infections, and health outcomes for people around the world.
Professor Cecilia Lindgren's work focuses on understanding the mechanisms involved in common complex traits, particularly obesity, by applying a range of genetic and genomic approaches to identify genetic risk variants and dissect their function. This knowledge will support therapeutic advances through development of new diagnostic tools and possible drug targets.