Working Group

As part of the virtual GMDS & TMF Annual Meeting 2021, the workshop "Data Science Approaches in Biomedical Informatics" was held on 1 October 2021 under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sax (University Medical Center Göttingen, Institute for Medical Informatics) and Prof. Dr. Tim Beißbarth (University Medical Center Göttingen, Institute for Medical Bioinformatics).

Due to the Corona situation, the workshop was held virtually as a web conference. The tried and tested format from the previous year was that the four speakers (Prof. Dominik Heider, Prof. Søren Brunak, Prof. Johannes Textor, Prof. Holger Fröhlich) made their presentations available 14 days before the workshop and these were to be viewed asynchronously in advance by the participants. On the day of the workshop, there were only short summaries of the presentations. This meant that most of the workshop time could be used for discussions. The approximately 34 participants were thus able to study the presentations at their own pace before the workshop and to pause at any point in order to delve deeper into the topic. The discussions could thus be structured and prepared in advance.

In the workshop, various aspects and approaches were presented and discussed in lectures from the fields of biomedical informatics, medical bioinformatics and systems medicine. Prof. Søren Brunak, for example, was able to report from Denmark, where other regulations allow significantly more comprehensive data to be used. In this context, data quality and the topic of (broad) consent were discussed. All in all, we were able to see in 2021 that the previously perceived boundaries between our disciplines have become even more blurred and that we have moved even closer together in terms of methodology and content.

The topics taken up in the course of the meeting will be discussed in greater depth in future meetings of the WG. The recording of the workshop or the presentations can still be accessed (by sending a request to: Benjamin.Loehnhardt@med.uni-goettingen.de).
 

Planned activities 2022:

The organisation of another interdisciplinary workshop on "Biomedical Informatics" is planned for 2022 as part of the GMDS annual conference, hopefully "on site" again. Here, the interdisciplinary discussions are to be continued. Furthermore, the election of the WG leadership is necessary this year. The core team of the WG will continue to coordinate monthly via web meeting.

As part of the virtual GMDS & CEN-IBS 2020, the workshop "Making Decisions in Biomedical Informatics" took place on 10 September 2020 under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sax (University Medical Center Göttingen, Institute for Medical Informatics) and Prof. Dr. Tim Beißbarth (University Medical Center Göttingen, Institute for Medical Bioinformatics).

Due to the Corona situation, the workshop was conducted virtually as a web conference. The format used was that the speakers made their presentations available 14 days before the workshop and these were to be viewed asynchronously in advance by the participants. On the day of the workshop, there were only short summaries of the presentations. This meant that most of the workshop time could be used for discussions. The approximately 22 participants were thus able to study the presentations at their own pace and to pause at any point to delve deeper into the topic. The discussions could thus be structured and prepared in advance.

In the workshop, various aspects and tools were presented and discussed in lectures from the fields of biomedical informatics, medical bioinformatics and systems medicine. Projects from MRI research (magnetic resonance imaging) and tools for knowledge management in molecular tumour boards were presented. The focus was on the data required and its heterogeneity and accessibility. Already during the workshop, interaction with the speakers was possible via chat, survey or request to speak. In the last part of the workshop, participants and speakers were able to discuss methods and tools in biomedical informatics. There was a very lively discussion on how methods from biomedical informatics can be transferred into routine ("from prototype to sustainability") and which prerequisites are necessary for this. The topics discussed will be dealt with in greater depth in future meetings of the WG. There will be a short summary. The recording of the workshop or the presentations can still be accessed (after request to: Benjamin.Loehnhardt@med.uni-goettingen.de).

Planned activities 2021:

For 2021, the organisation of an interdisciplinary workshop on "Biomedical Informatics" is again planned as part of the GMDS annual conference, then hopefully "on site". Here, the interdisciplinary discussions are to be continued. Furthermore, an additional meeting date is being considered to highlight the synergies between medical informatics and bioinformatics in joint projects. The core team of the WG continues to coordinate monthly via web meeting.

During the GMDS annual conference in Dortmund, the workshop "Influence of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Informatics!?" took place on 11th September 2019 under the direction of Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sax (University Medical Center Göttingen, Institute for Medical Informatics) and Prof. Dr. Tim Beißbarth (University Medical Center Göttingen, Institute for Medical Bioinformatics). In the workshop, various aspects and tools were presented and discussed in lectures from the fields of biomedical informatics, medical bioinformatics and systems medicine. First, there were reports from the DKFZ Heidelberg and the University of Cologne. In the second part of the workshop, the de.NBI Cloud was presented as well as insights into Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning from the perspective of an industry representative.

One point on the agenda of the workshop was the election of the new head of the GMDS working group "Biomedical Informatics" after a three-year term of office. The previous leader, Prof. Dr. Tim Beißbarth, was confirmed for a further term of office. The previous deputy heads, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sax and Benjamin Löhnhardt, were also elected as heads. Thus, the working group will be led by a 3-member leadership team in the coming term of office (11th September 2019 to 10th September 2022).

During the GMDS Annual Meeting 2017 in Oldenburg, the workshop "Methods of Systems Medicine" and a subsequent "Round Table" took place under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sax (University Medical Center Göttingen, Head of the GMDS Medical Informatics Committee) and Prof. Dr. Tim Beissbarth (University Medical Center Göttingen, Head of the "Bioinformatics" Executive Committee).

During the workshop, various aspects and tools from the field of "systems medicine" were presented and discussed in lectures from the fields of biomedical informatics, medical bioinformatics and systems medicine. In the subsequent "Round Table", the participants in particular delineated terms and discussed aspects surrounding the establishment of a new "Bioinformatics" department within the GMDS.

Participants of the discussion panel at the workshop "Methods of Systems Medicine" during the GMDS 2017 in Oldenburg.

On 19th September 2017, the GMDS General Assembly approved the establishment of the Department of "Medical Bioinformatics and Systems Biology", which will initially be led by Prof. Dr. Tim Beißbarth on an interim basis. The GMDS working group "Biomedical Informatics" is assigned to this department, among others.

During the GMDS Annual Meeting 2016 in the context of the HEC 2016, a meeting of the GMDS Working Group "Biomedical Informatics", established in September 2015, was held in Munich under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sax (University Medical Center Göttingen, Head of the GMDS Medical Informatics Expert Committee) and Prof. Dr. Tim Beissbarth (University Medical Center Göttingen, Head of the Executive Committee "Bioinformatics").

During the interdisciplinary workshop "From Biomedical Informatics to Medical Bioinformatics" (http://ams.med.uni-goettingen.de/hec_bioinf_workshop_2016/), presentations from the fields of biomedical informatics, medical bioinformatics and systems medicine looked at various definitions and approaches through different lenses. The speakers, some of them international, are experts in their fields and a productive discussion emerged. It was noted that dialogue between the different disciplines is essential for mutual understanding. One suggestion was to break with the rigid boundaries of disciplines in the future and focus more on methods.
 

One point on the agenda of the workshop was the election of the head of the GMDS working group "Biomedical Informatics". Prof. Dr. Harald Binder (University Medical Center Mainz) was appointed by the GMDS President as election chair and conducted the election. Prof. Dr. Tim Beißbarth (6 votes) will now lead the working group for the next three years. Prof. Dr Ulrich Sax (5 votes) and Benjamin Löhnhardt (2 votes) were elected as deputy heads.

Activities planned for the coming year:

An interdisciplinary workshop on "Biomedical Informatics" is again planned for 2017 as part of the GMDS annual conference in Oldenburg (17th - 21st September 2017, gmds2017.de). Here, the interdisciplinary discussions are to be continued. Furthermore, topics of "Biomedical Informatics" are to be increasingly introduced into the Medical Informatics Expert Committee (Head: Ulrich Sax, gmds.de/aktivitaeten/medizinische-informatik/) and closer coordination with the Bioinformatics Expert Group (FaBI, bioinformatik.de) is to take place.

During the GMDS Annual Meeting 2015, a meeting of the newly established working group "Biomedical Informatics" took place in Krefeld under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sax (University Medical Center Göttingen, Head of the GMDS Medical Informatics Committee) and PD Klaus Jung (University Medical Center Göttingen, representing Prof. Dr. Tim Beissbarth). At the advisory board meeting on 6th September 2015, the former project group was transferred into a working group. In the context of the interdisciplinary workshop "Data-driven models in systems medicine" (http://www.gmds.de/tagungen/2015/programm/tagungsprogramm/workshops/Workshops.php), presentations on networks in systems medicine, personalised medicine and data quality were reported on and discussed. It became clear how important it is for the fields of medical informatics, bioinformatics, biostatistics and systems medicine to understand each other. Prof. Hütt (Jacobs University Bremen) reported "embarrassingly simple" examples from the perspective of systems medicine, which were not trivial from the perspective of the other disciplines. Conversely, the need for very close coordination was also vividly underlined by the realisation that collecting high-quality phenotype data is now more costly than genotyping biomaterial.


 
At the end of the workshop, the short, medium and long-term goals of the working group were discussed. Another direct result of the workshop is that the GMDS has now become a member of the Bioinformatics Expert Group (FaBI, bioinformatik.de).