Leveraging Open Data Analytics & Machine Learning to Improve Diagnosis of Rare Diseases, Patients’ Care and Support
The outcomes of the National Inter-University Big Data Challenge — a student-led exploration of how AI and data science can shape better health and social futures.
2023
Inter-University Big Data Challenge™
IUBDC offers a rare and highly sought-after opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to use AI and advanced data analytics to conduct hands-on, student-driven research in biomedical sciences and health.
IUBDC™
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Program Statistics
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
IUBDC
63% / 50%
63% are women in STEM, 50% from underrepresented groups in STEM
94.5%
aim to publish their work in the Underline.io database with a unique DOI
89%
are competing in Inter-University Big Data Challenges for the first
TALENT POOL
IUBDC
68.8%
are students from the top 4 universities in Canada (UofT, UotA, UBC, McGill)
Culminating Events
Western Canada Finals
Calgary, AB, January 31, 2025
University of Calgary Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking
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Winners
Winners of Canada’s National Big Data and AI Challenge
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Placeholder Judge
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Special Guests
Provides expertise and fosters connections with government academia, and industry to guide initiatives.
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estern Canada Finals
Toronto, ON, January 30, 2025
Microsoft Canadian Headquarters
Three people working on laptops and tablets at a long table in a modern workspace with a mural featuring words like imagination, leadership, and culture on the wall behind them.
Improving Rare Disease Diagnosis: Using AI to predict mutations and white matter hyperintensities in adult-onset Krabbe Disease
Arshi Uzzaman, Sania Bahman, and Hafsa Shafi
Help Wanted: Exploring the Potential of Virtual Assistants in Supervising and Supporting Patients
Dongshen Guan , Defeng Lu , Kevin Palomino , Daniel Tang , and Tristan Young
Exploring the relationship between Protein Expression in Cerebrospinal fluid and Parkinson’s Disease Progression using Machine Learning
Carlos Pariona, Fiorella Ojeda, Ariane Huaynate, and Anghelo Romero
Topic Modeling for Rare Disease Symptoms
Lo Cheuk Tung, Samyuktha Ganeshkumar, Mahfuzur Rahman, and Miguel Villegas
Online Discourse and Offline Health Contagion: Longitudinal evidence from Long COVID on Twitter
Yiang Li, Rong Bai, Zhi Zhang, Hongkun Zhang, Xingzuo Zhou
Diagnosis Assistant: A Web-Based Application for Assisting in Diagnosing Rare Diseases
Wonyoung Chung
A Needle in a Haystack: Leveraging Machine Learning for Drug-Mechanism of Action Identification across Existing Therapeutics, with Specific Applications for Drug Repurposing for Rare Diseases
Sophia Yang and Michael Zhang
“Construction of a data science pipeline and comparing different supervised machine learning algorithms to predict breast cancer”
Sanika Raut and Ayesha Sanjana Kawser Parsha
Predicting the stages of PDAC using non-invasive method
Emre Yurderi, Kai Chung Chan, Chung Ping Mak, Catherine Pequino, and Chinnawut Boonluea
Infratentorial Lesions in patients with Clinically Definite Multiple Sclerosis: A prediction model
Edson Kenzo Takei, Amir Hazini, Beckham Gahirwa, and Aradhya Chawla
Winners
Winners of Canada’s National Big Data and AI Challenge
No items found.
member profile image
Placeholder Judge
/
LinkedIn Icon
Special Guests
Provides expertise and fosters connections with government academia, and industry to guide initiatives.
No items found.
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Previous Project
IUBDC
2026
Equitable Health Technologies: Overcoming Biases and False Inferences in AI Diagnostics and Drug Discovery
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IUBDC
2025
Aging Powerfully: AI Blueprint for Chronic Disease Management and Social Determinants of Longevity
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IUBDC
2024
Leveraging Open Data Analytics and Machine Learning to Improve Mental Health Research & Innovation
See Details
IUBDC
2023
Leveraging Open Data Analytics & Machine Learning to Improve Diagnosis of Rare Diseases, Patients’ Care and Support
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IUBDC
2022
The Sustainability of Health Economics
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IUBDC
2021
Infodemiology for the Future of Digital and Public Health
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IUBDC
2020
Personal and Public Health Decisions in a New Open Data Reality
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IUBDC
2019
Big Data of Recreational Drugs Through the Lens of Pharmaceutic, Public Health, and Socioeconomic Data
See Details