Abu dhabi: Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has opened applications for the first master's and Ph.D. cohorts in computational biology, marking a major expansion of the university's research and teaching mission into the life sciences.
According to Emirates News Agency, MBZUAI is applying its distinctive focus on artificial intelligence to new frontiers in science, with ongoing research in health and biology. This includes major initiatives such as AIDO (AI-Driven Digital Organism), the world's first multiscale foundation model for biology, and the Human Phenotype Project, which features one of the deepest phenotype multi-omic datasets globally. These efforts also encompass analysis of UAE initiatives like the Emirati Genome, enabling breakthroughs in disease prediction, drug discovery, and personalized medicine.
The first graduate cohorts will now join these efforts, utilizing AI and computation to study health and disease across molecular, clinical, and data-driven levels.
Timothy Baldwin, Provost and Professor of Natural Language Processing at MBZUAI, stated, "The launch of our computational biology programs signals an important evolution in MBZUAI's mission, applying the power of AI and computation to advance scientific discovery in the life sciences and healthcare. This is a natural next step for Abu Dhabi as it builds a globally competitive biotechnology sector rooted in data, innovation, and research excellence. By developing local and international talent in computational biology, MBZUAI is supporting the UAE's vision for a diversified, knowledge-based economy and its ambition to be a global center for scientific and technological progress."
The Computational Biology program is part of MBZUAI's School of Digital Public Health, which will integrate computational biology with precision medicine, genetics, epidemiology, and environmental health.
Eran Segal, Acting Dean of the School of Digital Public Health and Professor of Computational Biology at MBZUAI, commented, "What we're building at MBZUAI has extraordinary potential to reimagine how we understand human health. The program brings together exceptional researchers from diverse scientific backgrounds-people with the technical depth and creative vision to approach human health in entirely new ways. Our strength lies in collaboration: computational scientists, clinicians, and biologists working side by side, using AI to study molecular and physiological systems at an unprecedented level of detail. That's where discovery happens-in the spaces between disciplines."