The establishment of the Key Laboratory of Intelligent Medical Image Analysis and Precision Diagnosis of Guizhou Province was approved in October 2017. Currently, the Laboratory is the only key laboratory in Guizhou focusing on applying artificial intelligence technology to medical image processing and precision diagnosis research. It relies predominantly on a number of key specialized disciplines of the College of Computer Science and Technology of Guizhou University, such as the first-level doctoral program in software engineering, the first-level discipline master's degree program in computer science and technology, as well as key disciplines of computer science and technology. It also works closely with the People's Hospital of Guizhou province, cooperating with a wide range of the hospital’s divisions, such as Division of Radiology, Cardiology, Oncology, and Neurology.
Sticking to the strategy of “Precision Medicine” detailed in the National 13th Five-Year Plan, and given the need for technological and strategic long-and-medium term "Big Health" development in the relevant areas in China and Guizhou, the Laboratory has been conducting research in the field of intelligent medical imaging analysis and precision diagnosis and concentrating on three diseases known for high morbidity and mortality in China: cardiovascular diseases, tumors, and brain nervous system diseases. Staying informed of the leading edge in the field of medical imaging research at home and abroad, the Laboratory has been committed to exploring relevant areas such as medical image reconstruction, processing analysis, visualization, and deep learning of medical images while taking advantage of big data, computers, mathematics, and information processing methods.
The Laboratory seeks to integrate big data with image, gene, and clinical inquiry while further exploring the application of artificial intelligence so as to discover methods that could lead to earlier diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, human brain nervous system diseases, common tumors, and above all, to enhance personalized precise medicine. It is hoped that the national health as a whole can be elevated while the total expenditure on health can be brought down. At the same time, the Laboratory is making every effort to build a technical support system and an innovative platform for the disciplines' further integration, scientific clinical guidance, and the effective prevention and control of major diseases.
At present, the Laboratory boasts a high-level academic team composed of experts from the fields of science, engineering and medicine, including outstanding talented researchers from the fields of big data, computational theory, artificial intelligence, image processing, medical imaging, computer vision, cardiology, pathology, genetics, neurologic medicine, and oncology. Among them, there are 26 full-time researchers, of whom 13 are with international and national academic associations, 20 are with provincial/municipal academic associations, nine are professors, 11 are associate professors, eight are doctoral supervisors, 20 are master's supervisors, 21 hold Ph.D. degrees, and 10 studied abroad.
The Laboratory has long been active in taking on projects from National Natural Science Foundation of China as well as other international collaborative bodies. In the past five years, it has undertaken more than 40 collaborative projects at national, provincial, and international levels, raising nearly 20 million yuan in funding, and covering 18 projects from National Natural Science Foundation, five international cooperative projects, and 16 provincial and ministerial projects. In addition, the Laboratory has been working substantially with other well-known research institutions at home and abroad, such as University of California at Berkeley, the Medical School of Harvard University, France INSA-LYON University, University College London, Sydney University, Concordia University of Canada, Harbin Institute of Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, and the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It has also actively engaged in domestic and international conferences, inviting peer experts at home and abroad for academic exchanges and academic reports. Additionally, it has been involved in multi-center, large-scale scientific collaborative research projects. Working in an open and cooperative manner, the Laboratory will achieve even faster development.
