The role of data science in life science innovation is rapidly growing and evolving. If harnessed, the information explosion has the potential to catalyze new discoveries and treatments in healthcare to benefit patients in need. During this time of digital transformation, the potential exists to derive value from a wide variety of data sources, including next generation sequencing, mass spectrometry, electronic health records, images, and consumer wearables.

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) will convene various stakeholders to discuss how data is rapidly changing patient care. The gathering will feature voices from industry and academic research partners leading in this space. The event will feature a panel discussion covering a wide range of topics, including requirements and standards for generating useful data, patient privacy, barriers to adoption, and workforce training challenges.

The MLSC recently launched the second round of its Bits to Bytes Capital Call to provide funding for projects that will generate and analyze large datasets to answer pressing life science questions, and train data scientists in the Commonwealth. The inaugural round of Bits to Bytes provided $6.7 million in capital funding to nine data-driven, cross-sector projects focused on imaging, cancer, neuroscience, drug discovery and clinical trial design.