Hong Kong project spends 5 million dollars to exploit AI, genomics for mental health diagnosis and treatment
A new health technology project in Hong Kong has received substantial public funding to showcase an artificial intelligence-driven data-driven approach to mental health diagnosis and treatment.
The project, led by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, received more than HK$37 million (US$4.7 million) in funding from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council Strategic Topics Grant.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
According to a press release, the project aims to combine AI with genomic and biomedical technologies to aid in the personalized diagnosis and treatment of serious mental disorders.
The study will first identify genetic disease biomarkers and brain activity patterns to categorize major psychiatric disorders into distinct categories. It will then study the longitudinal effects of stress on diseases and their inheritance to provide insights into disease mechanisms. The results from these two activities will then be combined to guide personalized diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders.
The project will involve 20 investigators and collaborators from eight institutions in Hong Kong, mainland China and the United States.
WHY IT IMPORTANT
About 13% of Hong Kong’s population suffers from serious mental disorders, including major depressive disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Fewer than four out of 10 of them have complete control of their symptoms only after the first treatment.
To improve diagnosis, research, and personalized treatment of mental health disorders, researchers from PolyU are offering an integrated solution that moves from a symptom-based approach to an AI-driven, data-driven approach.
TREND TO BIGGER WOMAN
Asia-Pacific has seen many use cases of AI in mental health care diagnostics in recent years. One of them is a deep learning model to predict the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, recently introduced by a multinational research group led by Dr. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Another way is Hong Kong’s deep learning-based online test Deep Longevity can also create a personalized program for the patient.
Emotions Opsis AI in Singapore has developed an emotion analysis technology to diagnose the mental health status of the elderly.
ON PROFILE
“This is a multidisciplinary project that responds to the urgent need for new technology to improve mental health in Hong Kong and beyond. The team combines expertise from various fields such as computer science, biology, and medicine to address some of the fundamental challenges in complex disease research,” said Weixiong Zhang, project leader and chair professor of integrative Bioinformatics and Genomics at PolyU.
