Translational informatics is the main focus of the AI.MED lab’s research.  Working on the interface between bioinformatics and clinical research, lab members work to create new techniques and databases to improve clinical care, diagnosis, treatment and to advance clinical research. Jake Chen, Ph.D., the lab’s principal investigator, has research interests in systems biology, data mining, advanced visual analytics for therapeutic discovery and clinical decision-making applications. His lab is working to build biomolecular systems models from biomedical big data in an attempt to understand, simulate and predict complex disease biology outcomes.

Dr. Chen is currently listed as an investigator on the following research grants:

• Biological Comparisons Among Three Derivative Models of Glioma Patient Cancers Under Microenvironmental Stress awarded by National Cancer Institute/NIH/DHHS 2018 – 2023
• Characterization of the Lupus Nephritis microRNAome  awarded by National Institute of Arthritis & Musculoskeletal & Skin Diseases/NIH/DHHS 2018 – 2023
• B Cell Intrinsic Interferon-beta Regulates Autoreactive B Cell Development  awarded by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/NIH/DHHS 2018 – 2023
• Metabolic Checkpoints in Anti-CTLA-4 and Anti-PD-1 Immunotherapies  awarded by V FOUNDATION FOR CANCER RESEARCH 2018 – 2020
• Biomedical Data Translator Technical Feasibility Assessment of Reasoning Tool: The University of Alabama at Birmingham awarded by National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences/NIH/DHHS 2017 – 2019
• B-Cell Control Point Dysregulation in African Americans with SLE  awarded by LUPUS RESEARCH ALLIANCE2018 – 2019