Our Spotlights

Excessive noise, or noise pollution, in cities has been linked in multiple studies to increased stress, sleep disturbances, and long-term health problems. Researchers from the University of Florida are on a mission to quiet things down, working with local governments and a private firm to improve both public health and urban living. Enter Martin Gold, an associate professor from UF’s School of Architecture, and his team of students. They recently partnered with Siebein Acoustic, a soundscape design firm that specializes in architectural and environmental acoustics. The team visited Fort Lauderdale, one of Florida’s busiest cities, known both as a party destination and a mecca for retirees. The team studied areas throughout downtown and by the beach to provide recommendations for reducing the impact of sound in the city at large. To inform their work, researchers recruited participants to walk the city and report on their observations about sound and sights, took photo documentation, acoustic measurements, geographical measurements and analyzed municipal code studies. The team proposed different improvement strategies including: Using vertical distance by requiring residential high-rise construction to limit residences in the lower floors of buildings. Limiting sound levels at windows or balconies of residential units. Building envelope systems, which are the building components that separate the indoors from the outdoors, that limit sound transmission and absorb sound. Designing new construction so buildings absorb and diffuse the sounds striking them rather than reflecting and subsequently amplifying the sounds or focusing the sounds in particular areas. Strategic zoning to incentivize designs along arterial corridors that fill the sites and provide acoustic barriers to the residential neighborhoods behind them. “We need to take a closer look at how we are designing the next generation of urban environments. There’s a lot we can do with soundscape architecture to positively impact issues moving forward.” —Martin Gold, associate professor from UF’s School of Architecture The findings and recommendations were presented at the International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering in Nantes, France. Gold and his students are currently surveying an area of Clearwater and plan to study more cities around the state and offer recommendations for reducing noise.

Existing research indicates that the accuracy of a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis hovers between 55% and 78% in the first five years of assessment. That’s partly because Parkinson’s sibling movement disorders share similarities, sometimes making a definitive diagnosis initially difficult. Although Parkinson’s disease is a well-recognized illness, the term can refer to a variety of conditions, ranging from idiopathic Parkinson’s, the most common type, to other movement disorders like multiple system atrophy Parkinsonian variant and progressive supranuclear palsy. Each shares motor and nonmotor features, like changes in gait — but possess a distinct pathology and prognosis. Roughly one in four patients, or even one in two patients, is misdiagnosed. Now, researchers at the University of Florida and the UF Health Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases have developed a new kind of software that will help clinicians differentially diagnose Parkinson’s disease and related conditions, reducing diagnostic time and increasing precision beyond 96%. The study was published recently in JAMA Neurology and was funded by the National Institutes of Health. “In many cases, MRI manufacturers don’t communicate with each other due to marketplace competition,” said David Vaillancourt, Ph.D., chair and a professor in the UF Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology. “They all have their own software and their own sequences. Here, we’ve developed novel software that works across all of them.” Although there is no substitute for the human element of diagnosis, even the most experienced physicians who specialize in movement disorder diagnoses can benefit from a tool to increase diagnostic efficacy between different disorders, Vaillancourt said. The software, Automated Imaging Differentiation for Parkinsonism, or AIDP, is an automated MRI processing and machine learning software that features a noninvasive biomarker technique. Using diffusion-weighted MRI, which measures how water molecules diffuse in the brain, the team can identify where neurodegeneration is occurring. Then, the machine learning algorithm, rigorously tested against in-person clinic diagnoses, analyzes the brain scan and provides the clinician with the results, indicating one of the different types of Parkinson’s. The study was conducted across 21 sites, 19 of them in the United States and two in Canada. “This is an instance where the innovation between technology and artificial intelligence has been proven to enhance diagnostic precision, allowing us the opportunity to further improve treatment for patients with Parkinson’s disease,” said Michael Okun, M.D., medical adviser to the Parkinson’s Foundation and director of the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health. “We look forward to seeing how this innovation can further impact the Parkinson’s community and advance our shared goal of better outcomes for all.” The team’s next step is obtaining approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “This effort truly highlights the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration,” said Angelos Barmpoutis, Ph.D., a professor at the Digital Worlds Institute at UF. “Thanks to the combined medical expertise, scientific expertise and technological expertise, we were able to accomplish a goal that will change the lives of countless individuals.” Vaillancourt and Barmpoutis are partial owners of a company called Neuropacs whose goal is to bring this software forward, improving both patient care and clinical trials where it might be used.

After deploying life-saving cholera-prediction systems in Africa and Asia, a University of Florida researcher is turning his attention to the pathogen-plagued waters off Florida’s Gulf Coast. In the fight to end cholera deaths by 2030 – a goal set by the World Health Organization – UF researcher and professor Antar Jutla, Ph.D., has deployed his Cholera Risk Dashboard in about 20 countries, most recently in Kenya. Using NASA and NOAA satellite images and artificial intelligence algorithms, the dashboard is an interactive web interface that pinpoints areas ripe for thriving cholera bacteria. It can predict cholera risk four weeks out, allowing early and proactive humanitarian efforts, medical preparation and health warnings. Cholera is a bacterial disease spread through contaminated food and water; it causes severe intestinal issues and can be fatal if untreated. The US Centers for Disease Control reports between 21,000 and 143,000 cholera deaths each year globally. Make no mistake, the Cholera Risk Dashboard saves lives, existing users contend. His team now wants to set up a similar pathogen-monitoring and disease-prediction system for pathogenic bacteria in the warm, pathogen-fertile waters of the Gulf of America. “Its timeliness, its predictiveness and its ease of access to the right data is a game changer in responding to outbreaks and preventing potentially catastrophic occurrences.” - Linet Kwamboka Nyang’au, a senior program manager for Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data Closer to home Jutla is seeking funding to develop a pathogen-prediction model to identify dangerous bacteria in the Gulf to warn people – particularly rescue workers – to use protective gear or avoid contaminated areas. He envisions post-hurricane systems for the Gulf that will help the U.S. Navy/Coast Guard and other rescue workers make informed health decisions before entering the water. And he wants UF to be at the forefront of this technology. “If we have enough resources, I think within a year we should have a prototype ready for the Gulf,” said Jutla, an associate professor with UF’s Engineering School Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment. “We want to build that expertise here at UF for the entire Gulf of America.” Jutla and his co-investigators have applied for a five-year, $4 million NOAA RESTORE grant to study pathogens known as vibrios off Florida’s West Coast and develop the Vibrio Warning System. These vibrios in the Gulf can cause diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever and chills. One alarming example is Vibrio vulnificus, commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria, a bacterium that often leads to amputations or death. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported increases in vibrio infections in the Gulf region, particularly from 2000 to 2018. The warm and ecologically sensitive Gulf waters provide a thriving habitat for harmful pathogens. “The grant builds directly on the success of our cholera-prediction system," Jutla noted. "By integrating AI technologies into public health decision-making, we would not only lead the nation but also become self-reliant in understanding the movement of environmentally sensitive pathogens, positioning ourselves as global leaders.” Learning from preparing early Jutla’s dashboards are critical tools for global health and humanitarian officials, said Linet Kwamboka Nyang’au, a senior program manager for Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. “Its timeliness, its predictiveness and its ease of access to the right data is a game changer in responding to outbreaks and preventing potentially catastrophic occurrences,” Kwamboka Nyang’au said. Over the last few years, Jutla and several health/government leaders have been working to deploy the cholera-predictive dashboard. “Our partnership with UF, the government of Kenya and others on the cholera dashboard is a life-saving mission for high-risk, extremely vulnerable populations in Africa. By predicting potential cholera outbreaks and coordinating multi-stakeholder interventions, we are enabling swift action and empowering local governments and communities to prevent crises before they unfold,” said Davis Adieno, senior director of programs for the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. The early warnings for waterborne pathogens also allows the United Nations time to issue early assistance to residents in the outbreak’s path, said Juan Chaves-Gonzalez, a program advisor with the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “There are several things we do with the money ahead of time. We provide hygiene kits. We repair and protect water sources. We start chlorination, we set up hand-washing stations, train and deploy rapid-response teams. At the community level, we try to inject funding to procure rapid-diagnostic tests,” he said. “We identify those very, very specific barriers and put money in organizations’ hands in advance to remove those barriers.” Eyes on the Gulf In the United States, hurricanes stir up vibrios in the Gulf, posing a high risk of infection for humans in the water. There has been a nearly 200% increase in these cases over the last 20 years in the U.S., according to the CDC. “After Hurricane Ian, we saw a very heavy presence of these vibrios in Sarasota Bay and the Charlotte Bay region. Not only that, but they were showing signs of antibiotic-resistance. Last year, we had one of the largest number of cases of vibriosis in the history of Florida,” Jutla said. Samples from 2024 hurricanes Helene and Milton are being analyzed with AI and complex bioinformatics algorithms. “If there is a risky operation by rescue personnel, not using personal protective equipment, then we would want them to know there is a significant concentration of these bacteria in the water,” Jutla said. “As an example, Navy divers operating in contaminated waters are at risk of infections from vibrios and other enteric pathogens, which can cause severe gastrointestinal and wound infections.” Safety and economics “Exposure to vibrios and other enteric pathogens,” Jutla added, “can disrupt economic activities, particularly in coastal regions that are dependent on tourism and fishing. And vibrios may be considered potential bioterrorism agents due to their ability to cause widespread illness and panic.” In developing the Vibrio Warning System, Jutla noted, he and his team want to significantly enhance public health safety and preparedness along the Gulf Coast. By leveraging advanced AI technologies, satellite datasets and predictive modeling, they plan to mitigate the risks posed by environmentally sensitive pathogenic bacteria, ensuring timely interventions and safeguarding human health and economic activities. “Hospital systems and healthcare providers in the Gulf region will have a tool for anticipatory decision making on where and when to anticipate illness from these environmentally sensitive vibrios, and issue a potential warning to the general public,” he said. “With the potential to become a leader in environmental pathogen prediction, UF stands at the forefront of this critical research, poised to make a lasting impact on local, regional, national and global health and safety.”

Whether excited about gaining new followers or desperate to win back lost subscribers, investors who saw changes to their subscriber count performed worse than before their subscribers changed, according to a new study. The research tracked performance on social investment sites, where individuals can trade assets like cryptocurrency while attracting audiences based on their performance — like YouTube, but for investments. Both gaining and losing followers led investors to make more frequent, riskier trades. The upshot is that traders performed about 10% worse in the weeks after their subscriber counts changed. “If the number of followers increases a lot, it creates an overconfidence effect. You are more aggressive in trading, and your future trading performance will be worse,” said Liangfei Qiu, Ph.D., a professor in the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business and co-author of the new study. “So logically we thought that if more followers leads to worse performance, then if we reduce the number of followers, it will reverse the effect, reduce overconfidence and lead to higher trading performance,” Qiu said. “But that’s not what we found. If we reduce the number of followers, they trade even more aggressively and their trading performance becomes even worse.” Qiu and his collaborators at the University of Maryland and University of Washington worked directly with an anonymous social trading platform to examine the impact of gaining or losing followers on traders’ cryptocurrency trading behavior and performance. The research revealed the power of social pressure. This study was focused on cryptocurrency, which is highly volatile and may exacerbate the risk of social trading. But social trading also exists for traditional investments like stocks and bonds, and chasing followers could hurt these types of investments, too. The researchers say that both platforms and investors should guard against the downsides. “If platforms emphasize the social functions too much, it might backfire. Eventually it will hurt the long run performance of the platform,” he said. “The investors should realize their inherent bias and make sure their trading strategies are not too affected by social attention.”

A program spearheaded by University of Florida physicians recently expanded to improve care for new mothers throughout the state, using tools they have right at home. Five years ago, a team of obstetricians and researchers at the UF College of Medicine launched MOMitor™, a smartphone app that allows new mothers to answer health screening questions and check vitals like blood pressure in the comfort of their own homes, using tools given to them by their health care providers. Depending on the data, the clinical team can then follow up with patients as needed for further medical intervention. Now, the app is expanding beyond North Central Florida — where nearly 4,400 mothers have participated in the program — to other areas in the state. Clinicians are also teaming up with data scientists at the College of Medicine who are using artificial intelligence to study data and identify trends that can lead to more personalized care. Program expansion Thanks to funding from the Florida Department of Health to support the state’s Telehealth Maternity Care Program, MOMitor™ has recently expanded for use in Citrus, Hernando, Sumter, Flagler, Volusia, Martin, St. Lucie and Okeechobee counties, said Kay Roussos-Ross, M.D. ’02, MPAS ’98, a UF professor of obstetrics/gynecology and psychiatry who is leading the program. “The Florida Legislature was really motivated and interested in improving maternal morbidity and mortality, and through this program we’re touching additional parts of the state and helping patients beyond North Central Florida,” she said. Maternal mortality is a serious concern in the United States, with more than 18 deaths recorded per 100,000 births in 2023, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is a much higher rate than most other developed countries, Roussos-Ross said. Common factors that may lead to maternal mortality, which is measured from pregnancy through the first year after giving birth, include infection, mental health conditions, cardiovascular conditions and endocrine disorders. Many of these complications can go unnoticed or unmonitored, particularly if at-risk mothers are not reporting complications to clinicians. A 2025 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that up to 40% of women do not attend postpartum visits. “By leveraging AI, we have the opportunity to target moms and moms-to-be who might be at greater risk of complications ... and encourage them to participate in the program to mitigate these.” — Tanja Magoc, Ph.D. “Whereas we’re used to seeing patients pretty routinely during pregnancy, after delivery visits quickly drop off and some women don’t make it back for postpartum care, so we may not have an opportunity to continue supporting them,” Roussos-Ross said. “This can often be because of barriers such as housing, transportation or food insecurity. We offer referrals to help with some of these services.” With MOMitor™, patients can let their clinician know how they are recovering without visiting the clinic, improving access to care in situations where that is not always an easy option for new mothers. “It’s a way to be proactive,” Roussos-Ross said. “Instead of waiting for a patient to come to us when they haven’t been doing well for a while, we connect with them through the app and follow up when they initially begin not doing well, so we can address concerns more quickly.” Studying data to personalize care Roussos-Ross’ team is collaborating with data scientists from the College of Medicine’s Quality and Patient Safety initiative, or QPSi, to determine how AI can assist in finding ways to further improve processes. “By leveraging AI, we have the opportunity to target moms and moms-to-be who might be at greater risk of complications, such as developing postpartum depression or hypertension, and encourage them to participate in the program to mitigate these complications,” said Tanja Magoc, Ph.D., the associate director of QPSi’s Artificial Intelligence/Quality Improvement Program. David Hall, Ph.D., a QPSi data scientist, said his team is working alongside the clinical team to analyze data that can be used to create recommendations for patients. “Everything we do comes from information supported in the patients’ charts,” Hall said. “We also make sure the data upholds compliance standards and protects patients’ privacy.” “We’re interested in finding out what areas might be hot spots and determining what makes them this way, so we can ... better identify areas where there may be high-risk patients and provide interventions to those who need it most.” — David Hall, Ph.D. The teams aim to intervene before patients encounter postpartum complications, addressing potential issues before they become significant problems. After taking into account a patient’s personal and family medical history, the team looks at information such as geolocation, drilling down to areas much smaller than the ZIP code level in order to find points of potential concern. “We’re interested in finding out what areas might be hot spots and determining what makes them this way, so we can study these patterns throughout the state and better identify areas where there may be high-risk patients and provide interventions to those who need it most,” Hall said. Roussos-Ross said she is proud of the work her team has done to improve patient outcomes through the program so far and is excited to empower more patients. “Every year, the participants give us recommendations on how to improve the app, which we love. But they also say, ‘This is so great. It helped me think about myself and not just my baby. It helped me learn about taking care of my own health. It made me remember I’m important too, and it’s not just about the baby,’” Roussos-Ross said. “And that is so gratifying, because women are willing to do anything to ensure the health of their baby, sometimes at the expense of their own care. This is a way for us to let them know they are still important, and we care about their health as well.”

Math students may not blink at calculating probabilities, measuring the area beneath curves or evaluating matrices, yet they often find themselves at sea when first confronted with writing proofs. But a new AI-powered tool called HaLLMos — developed by a team led by Professor Vincent Vatter, Ph.D., in the University of Florida Department of Mathematics — now offers a lifeline. “Some students love proofs, but almost everyone struggles with them. The ones who love them just put in more work,” Vatter said. “It just kind of blows their minds that there’s no single correct answer — that there are many different ways to do this. It’s very different than just doing computational work.” Building the tool HaLLMos was developed by Vatter, as principal investigator, along with Sarah Sword, a mathematics education expert at the Education Development Center; Jay Pantone, an associate professor of mathematical and statistical sciences at Marquette University; and Ryota Matsuura, a professor of mathematics, statistics and computer science at St. Olaf College; with grant support from the National Science Foundation. The tool is freely available at hallmos.com. The team’s goal was to develop an AI tool powered by a large language model that would support student learning rather than short-circuiting it. HaLLMos provides immediate personalized feedback that guides students through the creative struggle that writing proofs requires, without solving the proofs for them. The tool’s name honors the late Paul Halmos, a renowned mathematician who argued that the mathematics field is a creative art, akin to how painters work. Students using HaLLMos can select from classic exercises — such as proving that, for all integers, if the square of the integer is even, the integer is even — or use “sandbox mode” to enter exercises from any course. Faculty can create exercises and share them with students. Vatter introduced HaLLMos to his students last spring in his “Reasoning and Proof in Mathematics” class, a core requirement for math majors that is often the first time students encounter proofs. “They could use this tool to try out their proofs before they brought them to me. We try to identify the error in a student’s proof and let them go fix it,” Vatter said. “It is difficult for faculty to devote enough time to working individually with students. Our goal is that this tool will provide the feedback in real time to students in the way we would do it if we were there with them as they construct a proof.” Helping professors and students excel “I think every math professor would love to give more feedback to students than we are able to,” Vatter said. “That’s one of the things that inspired this.” The next steps for Vatter and his colleagues include getting more pilot sites to use the tool and continuing to improve its responses. “We’d like it to be good at any kind of undergraduate mathematics proofs,” he said. Vatter also intends to explore moving HaLLMos to UF’s HiPerGator, the country's fastest university-owned supercomputer. “It’s our goal to have it remain publicly accessible,” Vatter said. This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education.

Florida’s thriving aquaculture industry is a vital part of the state’s economy, generating more than $165 million in sales annually and supporting jobs across rural and coastal communities. Recognized as agriculture by the Florida Legislature in 1993, aquaculture contributes to food security, environmental sustainability and economic resilience. “Just like terrestrial, land-based agriculture, aquaculture is the process of growing or raising a product,” said Shirley Baker, UF/IFAS professor of aquaculture and associate director of the School of Forest, Fisheries and Geomatics Sciences. “The people who do the work consider themselves farmers. Their products are simply plants and animals grown or raised underwater.” Overseen by the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services (FDACS), the industry includes an estimated 1,500 varieties of food fish, bait fish, mollusks, aquatic plants, alligators, turtles, crustaceans, amphibians, caviar and ornamental fish. With proper regulatory support, aquaculture can continue to be a driving force in Florida’s economy and environmental stewardship. The hallmark of Florida aquaculture is ornamental, or tropical fish, the saltwater and freshwater species bred for aquariums. In 2023, the sector generated more than $57 million, making the state the country’s top pet fish producer. In fact, 95% of ornamental fish in the United States come from the Sunshine State. About 90% of Florida’s ornamental fish are freshwater varieties. Farmers primarily raise live-bearing species in sterilized earthen ponds dug into loam or bedrock. They fill ponds with sexually mature fish called broodstock and harvest offspring using baited traps. Most egg-laying fish are grown in commercial hatcheries. Like ornamental fish, the demand for farmed seafood has grown as wild-caught sources are increasingly depleted. Globally, more than 50% of all seafood for human consumption is produced through aquaculture. “Seafood is considered one of the most in-demand sources of lean protein in the world, and it has to come from somewhere,” said Matthew DiMaggio, director of the UF/IFAS Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory in Ruskin. “The ocean can't produce any more than it already has, so aquaculture has to make up the deficit.” In Florida, as the number of fish farms and the scale of their operations have grown, the value of food fish sales has skyrocketed. Between 2018 and 2023, sales rose from $4 million to $26 million, a 550% increase. Some of the most common Florida food fish are tilapia, striped bass, cobia, pompano and red drum. They’re housed in various ways. Operations can include fiberglass ponds, vats and tanks inside greenhouses and recirculating systems occupying entire warehouses. Farmers typically start with fingerlings, or juvenile fish, purchased from reputable suppliers. Aquaculture farmers share their experiences Evans Farm of Pierson, Florida, is among the pioneering food fish farms in the state. Originally cattle farmers, the company expanded to sell tilapia, striped bass and caviar harvested from sturgeon. Fish are kept in filtered, recirculating ponds and long tanks known as raceways. They’re transported live to grocery stores and markets in vans outfitted with tanks and filtration systems. “Our fish are thriving, and they’re healthy. We grow them with great water quality, and we feed them excellent food,” said Jane Davis, who owns the business with her mother and brothers. “Although they’re raised in water, they’re no different than other agriculture crops, whether it's cattle, chickens or anything else.” Mollusks are another significant contributor to Florida aquaculture. While the sector includes oysters and scallops, clams are the dominating commodity; in 2023, they brought in $32 million of the state’s $43 million in mollusk sales. Clam farmers generally obtain grain-sized seed clams from hatcheries. The smallest varieties are initially cared for in nursery systems. Once the shells become large enough, they’re transferred to bags submerged off the coast. Cedar Key resident Heath Davis, no relation to Jane Davis, transitioned from fishing to clam farming in the mid-1990s. He and his father, Mike Davis, own Cedar Key Seafarms, one of the state’s leading wholesale clam distributors. “Before, as fishermen, we would go out and place nets wherever we thought the fish were,” Heath Davis said. “But clamming is like farming. We lease a 2-acre, underwater plot from the state and harvest the product from our designated field.” The Florida Aquaculture Plan In November, the Florida Aquaculture Review Council, the official conduit between FDACS and farmers, published the latest revision of the Florida Aquaculture Plan, a detailed list of research and development priorities. Florida’s climate, infrastructure, streamlined regulations and positive business environment have positioned the state to become the national leader in aquaculture, but innovation is required to remain competitive, according to the document. It’s a message Heath Davis echoed. “Aquaculture farming is such a huge part of Florida’s economy,” he said. “It could hold some of the answers needed to sustain the growing number of people living on this peninsula.”

The best way to avoid getting bitten by a venomous snake is to not go looking for one in the first place. Like eating well and exercising to feel better, the avoidance approach is fully backed by science. A new study from University of Florida Health researchers analyzed 20 years of snakebites cases seen at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville. “This is the first time we’ve evaluated two decades of venomous snakebites here,” said senior author and assistant professor of medicine Norman L. Beatty, M.D., FACP. Researchers analyzed 546 de-identified patient records from 2002 to 2022 and highlighted notable conclusions — for instance, that a third of the snakebites analyzed were preventable and caused by people intentionally engaging with wild snakes. “Typically, people’s experiences with getting bitten are due to an interaction that was inadvertent — they stumble upon a snake or reach for something without seeing one camouflaged,” Beatty said. “In this case, people were seeking them out. There were a few individuals who were bitten on more than one occasion.” Most (77.8%) of the snakebites occurred in adult men while they were handling wild snakes, and most of the bites were perpetrated by the diminutive pygmy rattlesnake and the cottonmouth. The latter is named for the white lining of its mouth, which it displays when threatened. “I was less surprised to see those species emerge as some of the most common ones people were bitten by, but the robust presence of other, less common species in the data — like the eastern coral snake, southern copperhead, timber rattlesnake and the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, was interesting,” Beatty said. The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is one of the most venomous snakes in North America. Most patients were bitten on their hands and fingers and around 10% of them attempted outdated self-treatments no longer recommended by doctors — like sucking out the venom. Initially, the study began as a medical student research project, thanks to a handful of medical students who worked with Beatty to review the cases. The intention was to dive deep into the circumstances of each encounter and learn more about the treatment given, as well as the outcomes. Fourth-year medical student River Grace, the paper’s first author, said the work struck a personal note. “My dad is a reptile biologist, so I’ve grown up around snakes my whole life,” Grace said. “He was bitten by a venomous snake many years ago and ended up hospitalized for multiple weeks, so it was interesting to keep that experience in mind while going over the data.” Grace noted that it typically took those bitten over an hour on average to travel from where the bite occurred to the hospital. “It seems like the reason for that was people not knowing exactly what to do once they’d been bitten, or underestimating the severity of the bite,” he said. “Some would just sit at home for hours.” Floridians share their home with a variety of scaly neighbors who don’t always welcome visitors — accidental or not. Ultimately, thanks to the timely care of providers, only three snake bites were fatal. However, antivenom is no panacea. Those who are lucky enough to receive it in time can still incur complications from the original snake bites, like tissue damage, or even a fatal allergic reaction to the antivenom itself. Consequently, researchers look toward improving the processes used to triage snake bites in the emergency room, ensuring that providers are equipped with the knowledge and the know-how to shorten time to treatment. “In the future, we think we’d love to get involved in enhancing provider education so everyone in the health care setting is confident in being able to identify and administer antivenom as quickly and safely as possible,” Grace said.

University of Florida researchers are addressing a critical gap in medical genetic research — ensuring it better represents and benefits people of all backgrounds. Their work, led by Kiley Graim, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering, focuses on improving human health by addressing "ancestral bias" in genetic data, a problem that arises when most research is based on data from a single ancestral group. This bias limits advancements in precision medicine, Graim said, and leaves large portions of the global population underserved when it comes to disease treatment and prevention. To solve this, the team developed PhyloFrame, a machine-learning tool that uses artificial intelligence to account for ancestral diversity in genetic data. With funding support from the National Institutes of Health, the goal is to improve how diseases are predicted, diagnosed, and treated for everyone, regardless of their ancestry. A paper describing the PhyloFrame method and how it showed marked improvements in precision medicine outcomes was published Monday in Nature Communications. Graim, a member of the UF Health Cancer Center, said her inspiration to focus on ancestral bias in genomic data evolved from a conversation with a doctor who was frustrated by a study's limited relevance to his diverse patient population. This encounter led her to explore how AI could help bridge the gap in genetic research. “If our training data doesn’t match our real-world data, we have ways to deal with that using machine learning. They’re not perfect, but they can do a lot to address the issue.” —Kiley Graim, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering and a member of the UF Health Cancer Center “I thought to myself, ‘I can fix that problem,’” said Graim, whose research centers around machine learning and precision medicine and who is trained in population genomics. “If our training data doesn’t match our real-world data, we have ways to deal with that using machine learning. They’re not perfect, but they can do a lot to address the issue.” By leveraging data from population genomics database gnomAD, PhyloFrame integrates massive databases of healthy human genomes with the smaller datasets specific to diseases used to train precision medicine models. The models it creates are better equipped to handle diverse genetic backgrounds. For example, it can predict the differences between subtypes of diseases like breast cancer and suggest the best treatment for each patient, regardless of patient ancestry. Processing such massive amounts of data is no small feat. The team uses UF’s HiPerGator, one of the most powerful supercomputers in the country, to analyze genomic information from millions of people. For each person, that means processing 3 billion base pairs of DNA. “I didn’t think it would work as well as it did,” said Graim, noting that her doctoral student, Leslie Smith, contributed significantly to the study. “What started as a small project using a simple model to demonstrate the impact of incorporating population genomics data has evolved into securing funds to develop more sophisticated models and to refine how populations are defined.” What sets PhyloFrame apart is its ability to ensure predictions remain accurate across populations by considering genetic differences linked to ancestry. This is crucial because most current models are built using data that does not fully represent the world’s population. Much of the existing data comes from research hospitals and patients who trust the health care system. This means populations in small towns or those who distrust medical systems are often left out, making it harder to develop treatments that work well for everyone. She also estimated 97% of the sequenced samples are from people of European ancestry, due, largely, to national and state level funding and priorities, but also due to socioeconomic factors that snowball at different levels – insurance impacts whether people get treated, for example, which impacts how likely they are to be sequenced. “Some other countries, notably China and Japan, have recently been trying to close this gap, and so there is more data from these countries than there had been previously but still nothing like the European data," she said. “Poorer populations are generally excluded entirely.” Thus, diversity in training data is essential, Graim said. "We want these models to work for any patient, not just the ones in our studies," she said. “Having diverse training data makes models better for Europeans, too. Having the population genomics data helps prevent models from overfitting, which means that they'll work better for everyone, including Europeans.” Graim believes tools like PhyloFrame will eventually be used in the clinical setting, replacing traditional models to develop treatment plans tailored to individuals based on their genetic makeup. The team’s next steps include refining PhyloFrame and expanding its applications to more diseases. “My dream is to help advance precision medicine through this kind of machine learning method, so people can get diagnosed early and are treated with what works specifically for them and with the fewest side effects,” she said. “Getting the right treatment to the right person at the right time is what we’re striving for.” Graim’s project received funding from the UF College of Medicine Office of Research’s AI2 Datathon grant award, which is designed to help researchers and clinicians harness AI tools to improve human health.