Sunday, May 11, 2025
5/11/2025
Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction - Over the last decade, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) approaches have grown and matured exponentially across all healthcare and research sectors including cancer research. The emergence of powerful AI/ML algorithms, fueled by advances in computing hardware and software, has created tremendous excitement for the use of AI/ML in cancer research and practice with its extraordinary potential to contribute to a greater understanding of cancer biology and translation of this knowledge into cutting edge prevention, early detection, and treatment of cancer. Moffitt Cancer Center (“Moffitt”) has been a significant player in advancing personalized medicine for cancer patients, investing in, and utilizing, non-traditional resources capable of harnessing emerging AI/ML algorithms such as establishing a Health and Research Informatics data platform, establishing a Department of Integrated Mathematical Oncology, and, most recently, establishing a Department of Machine Learning. The latter is a nascent department comprised of a team of renowned computer scientists and engineers specializing in the development of new AI/ML technologies and their novel applications to the full spectrum of bench-to-bedside cancer research, with direct connections to the oncology clinic and access to information about individuals at risk of cancer within Moffitt’s catchment area, the State of Florida, and beyond. Despite advancements, practicing personalized medicine is still limited by the ability to navigate the complex landscape of data and incorporate this information to form optimal patient-specific treatment decisions. Such strategies to eliminate cancer mortality require treatments to be tailored not only to molecular aspects of the cancer itself, but also to factors such as the cellular environment around the tumor, the genetics, metabolism and physiology of the patient, lifestyle factors, environmental exposures, social determinants of the patient’s health, and the dynamic changes of these parameters over time. However, harmonizing and synthesizing such large and heterogeneous pools of data require unprecedented computational power, data processing, and software capabilities. Moffitt is requesting federal funding to augment its high throughput computing platform for cancer research questions utilizing AI/ML strategies and algorithms benefitting Moffitt patients and the surrounding population within Moffitt’s 23 county catchment area, the State of Florida, and beyond. This platform will consist of high-performance computing hardware that utilizes graphical processing units and a high-performance diskless flash-based storage system with the ability to feed data to the computer hardware at the necessary high throughput rate. The director of this important project is: Peter D’Addio 12902 Magnolia Drive Tampa, Florida 33612 813-745-6515 Peter.DAddio@Moffitt.org
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).