The National Science Foundation issued a three-year, $1 million grant to the University of Massachusetts Lowell for the research and development of cyberinfrastructure that supports translational research, the Lowell Sun reports.
Translational research, which transforms knowledge derived from biomedical lab results into new therapies, medical devices and diagnostic screening, among others, has increased as the number of data sets, patient records and medical devices has grown, Yan Luo, PhD, UMass Lowell electrical and computer engineering professor and lead study author, told the Lowell Sun.
With the NSF grant, researchers will focus on creating new ways for HIPAA-compliant organizations to share data with one another while protecting medical information from cyberattacks. A secure cyberinfrastructure would allow faster simulations and virtual experiments while offering patients better health profiles and predictive models.
"In this context, the security of patient data is critical," Dr. Luo told the Lowell Sun. "We will leverage technologies such as software-defined infrastructure, blockchain and secure domain name system to extend the boundary of computing to sensitive and private data."