Seminar

Datalab Seminar

Causal Bayesian Inference in biomedicine

Speaker:  Fátima Sánchez Cabo (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares - CNIC)
Date:  Thursday, 02 March 2023 - 11:30
Place:  Aula Naranja, ICMAT

Abstract:

The field of biomedicine is currently experiencing a data revolution thanks to omics technologies, which provide researchers with the ability to study multiple layers of molecular information simultaneously. When integrated with databases of phenotypic and clinical information in large cohorts of patients, this detailed cellular and molecular data can bring us closer to the promise of personalized medicine. However, as the volume of data accumulates, it becomes increasingly evident that the lack of comprehensive mathematical frameworks to model the underlying biological processes is a significant bottleneck to fully exploiting its use. In this talk, I will present several approaches to infer general models from molecular data, with a focus on using Bayesian statistics to model complexity in biomedicine. Specifically, I will review the principles of Causal Inference applied to molecular epidemiology, as a key tool to propose comprehensive models of healthy and diseased individuals. These models can then be used to study the transition from health to disease and serve as an in-silico alternative to clinical trials and to experimentation with animals.