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PR Newswire

World’s First Graduate-level AI University Appoints Renowned Experts to Leadership Team

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ABU DHABI, UAE, May 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), the world’s first graduate-level, research-based artificial intelligence (AI) university, has appointed two leading experts in AI, education and technology, to its leadership team.

Dr. Behjat Al Yousuf
Dr. Behjat Al Yousuf

Dr. Ling Shao has been appointed as Executive Vice President and Provost of MBZUAI. He will lead MBZUAI’s academic affairs and research, ensuring the University delivers world-class higher education and research in the field of AI. In addition to his role at the University, Dr. Shao serves as CEO and Chief Scientist of the Inception Institute of Artificial Intelligence (IIAI), an Abu Dhabi-based international research organization that is partnered with MBZUAI to supervise PhD students, curriculum development, and research collaboration.

MBZUAI has also appointed Dr. Behjat Al Yousuf as Executive Vice President for Outreach and Engagement. Dr. Al Yousuf, a highly accomplished Emirati expert, will oversee the University’s external partnership mission, including outreach with the broader community, government agencies, and industrial partners. She will support the development and implementation of AI research initiatives, as well as develop, oversee, and provide AI advisory and consultancy services to public and private sector organizations, including government agencies, large businesses, small and medium enterprises, and AI startups. 

Speaking on the leadership appointments, Professor Sir Michael Brady, Interim President of MBZUAI, said: “Our vision from the very beginning was to develop a world-class higher education institution that will set new standards in the field of AI. With Dr. Shao and Dr. Al Yousuf on board we have further strengthened our leadership team, which will steer our University towards becoming a global leader in our field, delivering the best possible AI education to students, and serving as a prominent partner for research.”

Dr. Shao said: “As the first establishment of its kind to focus solely on AI education and research, MBZUAI will play an important role in the future of our societies. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to guide the next generation of AI leaders.”

Dr. Al Yousuf said: “It is an honor to have the opportunity to further contribute to the UAE’s scientific and technology sector through the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. I look forward to leveraging the capabilities of the University while working with public and private sector entities within the UAE and across the world to find new solutions that will propel global society into an AI-empowered era.”

With the first academic year scheduled to start in January 2021, the University is in the process of vetting thousands of applications from more than 80 countries. The University Admissions Office will begin to send acceptance letters soon. 

MBZUAI will offer Master of Science (MSc) and PhD level programs to graduate students from across the world, while also engaging policymakers and businesses globally so that AI is harnessed as a force for positive transformation.

The University will provide all admitted students with a full scholarship, plus benefits such as a monthly allowance, health insurance, and accommodation. MBZUAI will work with leading local and global companies to secure internships and will also assist students in finding employment.

About Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI)

MBZUAI is the world’s first graduate-level, research-based artificial intelligence (AI) university. Launched in October 2019 and located in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, the University aims to empower students, businesses and governments to advance artificial intelligence as a global force for positive progress. For more information, please visit www.mbzuai.ac.ae.

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Dr. Ling Shao Executive Vice President and Provost at MBZUAI
Dr. Ling Shao Executive Vice President and Provost at MBZUAI
PR Newswire

Get your spyglass out! Educational detective game launches worldwide for curious kids to play at home

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The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency: Thrilling adventure for young sleuths teaches coding, history and features famous women in STEM

VICTORIA, British Columbia, May 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Best-selling children’s book series The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency is now available as a seriously fun, mystery-solving game for ages 9 and up.

“Parents and teachers are looking for high-quality, interactive resources for kids to explore from home right now,” says Mike Wozniewski, President of Hololabs, the innovative studio that released the game this week. “The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency helps children hone their reading, logic and computer programming skills by solving mysteries alongside famous historical figures.”

Set in fascinating 1820s London, this new mobile game takes players into the world of a young Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace (the first computer programmer) as they search for clues and catch “clever criminals”. Humour, exploration and intrigue draw young players into brainteasers, with stories that celebrate science, history and friendship. 

Available now in App Stores, this educational and playful game includes more than 20 original mysteries written by the original series author Jordan Stratford and showcases 19th century female scientists, writers and inventors. “When my daughter was 9, I wanted her to have real-life role models in STEM,” says Stratford. “The game complements the book series in the recognition that kids can change the world with their curiosity and imagination.”

Players can put their detective skills to the test learning to code on Ada’s “bleh” machine (based on the world’s first computer), investigating suspicious crates on the Thames, questioning witnesses at a popular Piccadilly tea salon and puzzling over broken printing presses in Fleet Street. Children can even collect and listen to tracks on Ada’s augmented reality “Music Machine”.

Features

  • 20+ hours of story-based gameplay, plus endlessly replayable content
  • 100+ new vocabulary words and history facts to discover and collect
  • Historical content with a focus on famous female scientists
  • Whimsical design with beautifully-detailed London neighbourhoods
  • Multiple Mini-Activities: Hidden object searches, repair puzzles and pop “quizzlers”

Parents, teachers and kids can download a light version of the game for free to mobile devices right here:

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/the-wollstonecraft-agency/id1411451823?mt=8 
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.hololabs.wda

There are no subscription fees or ads. Unlock the full experience with a one-time purchase.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aqt87UTPKQ 
Presskit: http://wollstonecraft.com/presskit.html 
Instagram: @wollstonecraft_game 
Twitter: @WollstDetAgency

Mike Wozniewski, +1-888-800-7746, info@hololabs.org

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PR Newswire

Berkeley Lights Launches Two New Capabilities in the Opto Cell Therapy Development 1.0 Workflow to Accelerate the Creation Of Effective Cancer Immunotherapies

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The new multiplex cytokine and cytotoxicity assays as a part of the Opto Cell Therapy Development 1.0 workflow will help users of the Berkeley Lights’ platform develop cancer immunotherapies faster

EMERYVILLE, Calif., April 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Berkeley Lights, Inc., a leader in Digital Cell Biology, launched new capabilities to empower the Opto Cell Therapy Development 1.0 workflow. The workflow consists of a collection of software capabilities, reagents, and protocols to be run on the Beacon® and LightningTM systems. With the new capabilities researchers can now perform multiple functional assays on thousands of individual T cells in just days, allowing them to recover live cells for downstream genomic analysis. This ultimately enables Berkeley Lights’ customers to link T cell phenotype and function to genotype on individual cells, consolidating the T cell functional analytic process into one innovative platform.

T cell-based therapies have shown great promise for cancer treatment, but developing these therapies is challenging because the process of killing cancerous tumors by T cells relies on studying and screening multiple cell-to-cell interactions—a time-consuming and complex procedure. Current techniques to assess T cell function don’t allow scientists to collect all of the required data from the same cell. The new multiplex cytokine assay and the cytotoxicity assay, along with the recently launched TCRseq Well Plate Kit allow scientists to define and test the function of individual T cells. These applications enable simultaneous functional interrogation of thousands of individual T cells as they interact with antigen-presenting cells or tumors. Live, individual clones can be recovered for downstream expansion or genomic analysis. The Opto Cell Therapy Development 1.0 workflow enables CAR-T cell phenotypic and functional screening, and the discovery of T cell receptors (TCRs) associated with specific T cell behaviors.

“With the Opto Cell Therapy Development 1.0 workflow, users of Berkeley Lights’ platform can now tailor the development of cell therapies that mediate the rapid destruction of multiple tumor cells to the few T cells that really do all the work,” said John Proctor, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Marketing at Berkeley Lights. “The cytotoxicity assay visualizes killing activity from single T cells, such as multiplexed and serial killing, followed by live cell recovery for genomic analysis. This new assay avoids common problems associated with traditional killing assays, which measure average target cell lysis at fixed time points, obscuring kinetic details and ignoring the heterogeneity present in T cell subsets.”

Berkeley Lights will continue to release more cell therapy related capabilities to the Berkeley Lights platform in the coming months. Email info@berkeleylights.com for more info.

About Berkeley Lights
 Here at Berkeley Lights, we think cells are awesome! Cells are capable of manufacturing cures for diseases, fibers for clothing, energy in the form of biofuels, and food proteins for nutrition. So the question is, if nature is capable of manufacturing the products we need in a scalable way, why aren’t we doing more of this? Well, the answer is that with the solutions available today, it is hard. It takes a long time to find the right cell for a specific job, costs lots of money, and if you have picked a suboptimal cell line, has a very low process yield. The Berkeley Lights Platform delivers and links deep phenotypic, functional, and genotypic information at the single cell level. This is a new way to capture and interpret the qualitative language of biology and translate it into single cell specific digital information, which we call Digital Cell Biology. Using our platform, customers have the complete solution to find the best cells by functionally screening and recovering individual cells for antibody discovery, cell line development, cell therapy development, and synthetic biology. Using our systems and solutions, scientists can find the best cells, the first time they look. For more information, visit www.berkeleylights.com.

Berkeley Lights’ Beacon and Lightning systems and Culture Station instrument are for research use only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

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Source: Berkeley Lights, Inc.

PR Newswire

Icelandic Genomes Elucidate Neanderthal Heritage of Europeans

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Archaic genetic fragments comprising nearly half the Neanderthal genome are circulating in the European gene pool today

The average European carries more than 500 such archaic fragments, including SNPs linked to prostate cancer risk, iron retention, blood clotting speed, and height

REYKJAVIK, Iceland, April 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Scientists at deCODE genetics and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute and universities in Denmark and Iceland today publish in Nature the first study to use whole-genome sequence data from across a population to shed light on the present-day legacy of interbreeding between modern and archaic humans more than 50,000 years ago. In general terms, the findings support previous estimates that most people outside of Africa have approximately 2% archaic ancestry, predominantly the result of repeated contact and interbreeding between groups of Homo sapiens and multiple Neanderthal individuals. The results also show more significant than expected genomic fragments from Denisovans, another archaic human species that interbred with both Neanderthal and Homo sapiens.

Yet the principal significance of this study lies in the unprecedented magnitude of data that was used to understand the nature and impact of this archaic legacy. In its first phase, the study utilizes whole genome sequence (WGS) data from 28,000 Icelanders, nearly ten percent of the entire population, and 286 sub-Saharan Africans in the 1000 Genomes project. A limiting factor in previous studies has been an overreliance on searching modern genomes for sequence fragments derived from just three archaic individuals for whom we have good quality sequence data: two Neanderthals and one Denisovan. The authors here turn this approach on its head, using the African sequences as a baseline for Homo sapiens with no introgression from Neanderthals, and against which they compared the Icelandic sequence data. The resulting chromosomal fragments found in Icelanders but not shared by Africans comprise a vast catalogue of 15 million putative archaic fragments.

After combining identical and overlapping fragments, the authors identified more than 50,000 distinct archaic fragments covering 38-48% of the readable genome. These contain nearly 400,000 single-letter sequence variants, that are absent from the African samples. Intriguingly, in the Icelandic samples the authors identify nearly 300 “archaic deserts” where there are no archaic fragments; these cover nearly 25% of the genome, including the entire X chromosome.

To better understand the phenotypic impact of the archaic variants, the deCODE team examined them for association with 271 phenotypes in whole-genome data on 210,000 Icelanders. After winnowing suggestive associations in order to eliminate those driven be nearby non-archaic variants, they identified five archaic variants with genome-wide significant associations. One has previously been linked to decreased levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) and risk of prostate cancer, but was not known to be of archaic origin; two decrease levels and mass of hemoglobin; a fourth increases the time it takes for blood to clot; and the fifth decreases height.

“Whether individually or collectively, our genome enables us to learn more about who we are by telling us where we come from. This paper is a kind of ancestry report for one branch of our species, and it’s telling us that in this particular neighborhood we are not just Homo sapiens but also the descendants of ancient archaic humans – cousin species whose lineage is thus not entirely extinct,” said Kari Stefansson, CEO of deCODE and a senior author on the paper. “We are scratching the surface of what this hybrid legacy means. What we know is that in the 50,000 years from their time to this, our adaptability and diversity have enabled us to mix and move, settle and thrive in every corner of the planet as they did not. In these dark days we would do well to remember that our differences are literally the mark of our success, and so to help each other as best we can.”

Based in Reykjavik, Iceland, deCODE is a global leader in analyzing and understanding the human genome. Using its unique expertise in human genetics combined with growing expertise in transcriptomics and population proteomics and vast amount of phenotypic data, deCODE has discovered risk factors for dozens of common diseases and provided key insights into their pathogenesis. The purpose of understanding the genetics of disease is to use that information to create new means of diagnosing, treating and preventing disease. deCODE is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN).

Contact:
Thora Kristin Asgeirsdottir
+354-894-1909
Thora.Asgeirsdottir@decode.is

The Neanderthal In All Of Us - Dr. Kari Stefansson and Dr. Agnar Helgason
The Neanderthal In All Of Us – Dr. Kari Stefansson and Dr. Agnar Helgason
PR Newswire

SAS and IIASA call for crowd-driven artificial intelligence to help track deforestation

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SINGAPORE, April 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — SAS is committed to building a global community of innovators that use technology to ignite positive change for people and the planet. This Earth Day, SAS and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) are implementing the next generation of crowd-driven artificial intelligence (AI) to help power AI algorithms designed to help us better understand our planet.

IIASA is an independent, international research institute that is known for its expertise in systems analysis and providing policy solutions and baseline information on pressing concerns for humanity. IIASA is placing a spotlight on the issue of deforestation to learn about the application of AI to elucidate the interconnectivity of Earth’s ecosystems. Today, our systems are changing rapidly, approaching levels that exceed existing human experiences, scientific understanding and traditional modeling capabilities, making it increasingly difficult for humans to intervene efficiently, effectively and timeously.

“The urgency required to address these transformations requires the application of best of breed technology solutions. That’s why we turned to SAS,” said Albert van Jaarsveld, CEO at IIASA. “By combining the power of our environmental science research platforms, SAS’ AI and computer vision technologies, and the sheer intellectual power of concerned citizens, we will develop AI models that will exponentially increase the value of human insights and strive to deliver near real-time assessment of global environmental change.”

Powerful, accurate, useful AI models do not happen by magic. The development of an AI model starts with human intelligence. For this project, SAS and IIASA are jointly launching an online crowdsource-driven app to gather the collective intelligence of the crowd. They are asking volunteers — an army of citizen scientists from middle school students in today’s virtual classrooms to artists, engineers and professional data scientists — to kick-start this effort by reviewing and judging images of the rainforest. These images show land untouched and land that may have been affected by human development.

“Since image analysis is an important first step for the accurate assessment and projection of deforestation, we are asking people to see what technology can’t see, by examining and reporting on images of smaller incremental forestry incursions worldwide,” said van Jaarsveld. “Crowdsourcing helps improve the AI algorithms, expediting what used to take years to analyze, thus helping to drive vital policy responses to protect our forests more quickly.”

When people flag regions that have seen signs of human impact, they help make AI models become smarter. For example, it is easy for a human to distinguish between a road (which signals human impact) and a river (which does not), but an AI model will not know the difference until it obtains sufficient training through learning from human observations. Additionally, results from the model ensure that the crowdsourcing app focuses the attention of human judges where their expertise is most needed. The model will allow for increased efficiency of a volunteer human force that best makes use of their attention and insights for a broad array of projects aimed at monitoring and measuring important global change matters.

With the power of the crowd and the computer combined, SAS and IIASA will have a robust, extensive platform for empowering citizen scientists to assist in cutting-edge research that helps us all better understand, predict and thrive in the world we share. While the first phase of this partnership focuses on deforestation, there are plans to extend this platform to other environmental concerns where crowdsourcing can help serve the greater good.

As a start, everyone can play a role in making AI smarter and improve its ability to help protect our forests. From students who are currently out of the classroom to AI professionals and everyone in between, this activity allows each of us to make a difference just by looking at a few images. Head to sas.com/rainforest to categorize images that show signs of deforestation and help models learn and improve at each iteration.

This crowdsourcing partnership with IIASA is fueled by SAS’ commitment to both data literacy and the Data for Good movement, which encourages using data in meaningful ways to drive positive global change.

About IIASA

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policymakers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by prestigious research funding agencies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. www.iiasa.ac.at

About SAS

SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative software and services, SAS empowers and inspires customers around the world to transform data into intelligence. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW®.

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies.  Copyright © 2019 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.

Editorial Contact:
Cherie Ho
 Cherie.ho@sas.com
+65-6398-3385 (office)
+65-9479-9424 (hp)
 www.sas.com/news

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PR Newswire

Xinhua Silk Road: International economic, trade, tourism festival spurs dev. of E China’s Yangzhou

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BEIJING, April 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — The 2020 China Yangzhou Flowery March International Economic, Trade and Tourism Festival kicked off on April 18 in Yangzhou of east China’s Jiangsu Province with 36 key projects contracted at the opening ceremony.

It is learned that 178 projects with a gross investment of 187.83 billion yuan will be contracted during the festival, involving advanced manufacturing, modern services and sci-tech cooperation.

The project signing ceremony at the 2020 China Yangzhou Flowery March International Economic, Trade and Tourism Festival. (Photo/Voice of Yangzhou)
The project signing ceremony at the 2020 China Yangzhou Flowery March International Economic, Trade and Tourism Festival. (Photo/Voice of Yangzhou)

During the festival, the city will issue tourism and catering cards to visitors through online and offline channels to let them enjoy a cash rebate, aiming at expediting the building of a well-known international cultural tourism city and fostering the recovery of the service sector.

The festival also witnessed the unveiling ceremony of “Food Capital of the World”.

As a city with a history of 2,500-odd years, Yangzhou was rated as China’s fourth “Food Capital of the World” in 2019 after Chengdu in southwest China’s Sichuan, Shunde District of Foshan in south China’s Guangdong, and Macao.

As a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, Yangzhou has taken a comprehensive set of actions in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, and introduced specific measures to support local catering sector, Ernesto Ottone Ramírez, Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO, said via video connection.

He believed Yangzhou has the ability to get through the crisis with its strong cultural resources and gastronomic traditions.

Yangzhou will ramp up efforts in developing industrial clusters involving automobiles and parts, high-end equipment, and new power equipment, microelectronics and software and information service, and high-end textiles and clothing, ocean engineering equipment and high-tech ships, biomedicine and new medical devices, food, and aviation, said Zhang Baojuan, Mayor of Yangzhou.

The city is facing unprecedented development opportunities brought by the Yangtze River Delta integration, the Grand Canal Cultural Belt and other national development plans. The convenient modern transport, profound cultural heritage and sci-tech innovation, international and standardized business environment, and convenient living environment together make Yangzhou an ideal place to live, work and start businesses, said Xia Xinmin, Secretary of CPC Yangzhou Municipal Committee.

It’s reported that the Flowery March International Economic, Trade and Tourism Festival has been held for 19 consecutive years, and has become an important platform for promoting Yangzhou’s economic and trade cooperation and cultural exchanges at home and abroad.

See the original link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/312895.html

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