ILSI 2024 Annual Meeting Session 4 – Artificial Intelligence

Geoffry Smith, Chairman of the Essential Micronutrients Foundation, Singapore

Mr. Geoffry Smith is President of the ILSI Southeast Asia Region based in Singapore, branch co-representative to the global ILSI Assembly, and past Member of the Executive Committee of the global ILSI Board. He is the Chairman of the Essential Micronutrients Foundation, a non-profit organization which addresses micronutrient deficiencies globally as a public health issue. In addition, he’s Director of Nutrition Strategies International, which deals with food and nutrition issues in developing countries. Author of a number of papers on nutrition and dietary issues, he serves as a member of the editorial board of the journal Food and Nutrition Bulletin.

Prior to his current positions, Mr. Smith was the Global Director, Health Chelates for AkzoNobel Functional Chemicals, and directed the global business for these compounds in food and nutrition, as well as pharmaceutical applications. He was responsible for the global project within AkzoNobel addressing iron deficiency anemia. He is a thirty-year veteran of the chemical industry in Asia-Pacific and globally, and has resided in Singapore for more than 25 years. He is a member of the Nutrition Society of the UK, the American Society of Nutrition and the American Chemical Society. He is the editor of the ILSI Nano Alert newsletter on nanotechnology in food and agriculture.

AI in Food Systems: A Farm-to-Fork Approach – Ilias Tagkopoulos, PhD, University of California, Davis, USA

Abstract: How do we create a better food system with AI? If our goal is a healthier society and a more sustainable planet, a holistic approach that bridges scientific domains is necessary. In this talk, I will discuss the challenges of the food system today, the role that AI can play in addressing them, and some of the work that we do towards this goal in the USDA/NSF AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems (AIFS); an AI company in food, nutrition, and health called PIPA LLC; and in my UC Davis lab.

Dr. Ilias Tagkopoulos is a Professor of Computer Science and the Genome Center at the University of California, Davis. He leads the Integrative Biology and Predictive Analytics laboratory that focused on AI in Life Sciences, with an emphasis in accelerated knowledge discovery in Life Sciences, including Food and Nutrition. He is the Director of the USDA-NIFA/NSF AI Institute of Next-Generation Food Systems (AIFS), a 50+ faculty collaboration between UC Davis, UC Berkeley, UIUC, Cornell, ANR, and USDA, with a mission to leverage AI to build a better food system, and one of the 25 National AI Institutes that are funded by a $500M US commitment. He is the founder of six companies, including PIPA LLC, an AI company where 70+ engineers and scientists work with their partners towards a healthier society and healthier planet, addressing challenges around heterogeneous data integration, multi- omics modeling, AI, decision making under uncertainty, optimal experimental design, and discovery with applications in clinical, industrial, commodity, and nutrition data.

Before joining UC Davis, Dr. Tagkopoulos was with Princeton's Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics and a quantitative manager in Credit Suisse. He is an NSF CAREER award recipient (2013), a National Academies Frontiers in Engineering fellow (2016), holds a MSc from Columbia University (2003) and a Ph.D. from Princeton University (2008) in Electrical Engineering.

Artificial Intelligence and Biological Networks: A Pioneering Approach for Microbiome Data Integration in Biomarker Discovery – Enrique Carrillo de Santa Pau, PhD, IMDEA, Spain

Abstract: Artificial intelligence, particularly machine learning, is increasingly being employed in human microbiome studies, specifically for generating microbial features, biomarker identification, and investigating life styles, health and diseases. In this case study, we present a novel approach combining machine learning techniques—Gaussian mixture models—with systems biology tools—microbial networks—to integrate different data layers (i.e.: clinical, biochemical, immunological and microbial data) to identify markers associated with the persistence of symptoms in celiac disease patients, a chronic immune-mediated systemic disorder elicited by dietary gluten ingestion, after a good adherence to gluten free diet, a condition affecting up to 30% of individuals with celiac disease. Additionally, the fecal metabolome of these patients is explored, and successfully correlating specific metabolites with symptom persistence and certain microbial species. Through this integrated approach, we demonstrate that integrating diverse machine learning, systems biology, and statistical methods is crucial for gaining a deeper understanding of the biology for life styles, health, diseases and identifying biomarkers effectively. In addition, open science practices will be discussed to overcome fragmentation in food and nutrition research, following the ELIXIR Food & Nutrition Community efforts.

Dr. Enrique Carrillo de Santa Pau was trained in biology and obtained his PhD. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology followed by a MSc. in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology in Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. Additionally, his academic credentials include an Executive Education Program from the IE Business School entitled: “Accelerate: Building Business from Science and Technology”. He has been worked in the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) and Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (RIMLS) developing integrative analysis with Next Generation Sequencing data to elucidate the epigenetic mechanisms of health and diseases, as part of the BLUEPRINT of Haematopoietic Epigenomes from the International Human Epigenome Consortium. Currently, he is the head of the Computational Biology Group in IMDEA Food Institute (Spain) focused on the integration of artificial intelligence with biological networks techniques to study the nutrition-disease interactions through molecular variability and personalized responses.

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Wearables, Images and AI for Food Intake Monitoring – Edward Sazonov, PhD, University of Alabama, USA

Abstract: In modern society, health-related behaviors are the major determining factors of life expectancy and quality of life. The emergence of wearable sensor technology and artificial intelligence has paved the way for objective, sensor-driven assessment of these behaviors. Modern technology carries the promise to objectively measure and quantify diet, nutrition, and associated eating behaviors. This talk will provide a high-level overview of the current state of the art in wearables aimed at monitoring food intake and using artificial intelligence for food image analysis. The open problems and future directions will be discussed.

Edward Sazonov (IEEE M’02, SM’11) received the Diploma of Systems Engineer from Khabarovsk State University of Technology, Russia, in 1993 and the Ph.D. degree in Computer Engineering from West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, in 2002. Currently he is a James R. Cudworth endowed Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL and the head of the Computer Laboratory of Ambient and Wearable Systems (http://claws.eng.ua.edu). His research interests span wearable devices, sensor-based behavioral informatics and methods of biomedical signal processing, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Devices developed in his laboratory include a wearable sensor for objective detection and characterization of food intake (AIM – Automatic Ingestion Monitor); a highly accurate physical activity and gait monitor integrated into a shoe insole (SmartStep, winner of Bluetooth Innovation WorldCup 2009); a wearable sensor system for monitoring of cigarette smoking (PACT); and others. The research in his lab was recognized by several awards, including best paper awards, President’s research award at the University of Alabama and others. In 2020 Dr. Sazonov served as a Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the University of Newcastle, Australia. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, National Academies of Science, as well as by state agencies, private industry and foundations. Dr. Sazonov serves as a Specialty Chief Editor for Wearable Electronics, Frontiers In Electronics and Associate Editor for several IEEE journals.