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Data Engineer position available in HASTE

We are looking for a skilled Data Engineer to join the HASTE team!

Tasks

In collaboration with other researchers, develop, implement and test systems for AI-controlled automated microscopes. The task includes interacting directly with the microscope and establishing pipelines where models trained on previously taken images decide and control where the microscope should take images in the next step to reach a specific goal. We are looking for a candidate with a genuine interest in technology and automation, and who enjoys solving problems including both practical interaction with hardware (robots, microscopes) and different types of software. Since our microscopes generate large amounts of images, the position will also include large-scale data management and -analysis. You will work with researchers in AI modeling and biological laboratory sciences, and contribute to implementing methods and evaluating them for different types of biological problems.

This is a 2-year position that is part of the HASTE project, funded by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) aiming at developing new, intelligent ways of processing and managing very large amounts of microscopy images in order to be able to leverage the imminent explosion of image data from modern experimental setups in the biosciences. Industry collaborators are Vironova AB and AstraZeneca AB.

Qualifications

A master’s degree in engineering or a university degree in a relevant field is a requirement. Good programming skills in Python and preferably more programming languages is a requirement. Experience in AI modeling, Linux systems as well as developing REST services and APIs is a requirement. Experience of AI modeling on image data, practical handling of automated microscopes and working with software containers (e.g. Docker/Singularity) is meriting.

Apply via link at the bottom of the University application: https://uu.se/en/about-uu/join-us/details/?positionId=361223

Deadline: Nov 25th, 2020

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Postdoc position: AI methods for large-scale microscopy imaging

We are currently looking for an ambitious, highly motivated Postdoc with a good background in AI and imaging to join the HASTE project.

This is a 2-year postdoc position. Assignments include development and application of methods for large-scale analysis of microscopy images using AI / Machine Learning within the framework of the HASTE project. The project focuses on AI / machine learning with quantifiable confidence or probability, based on methods such as Active Learning, Conformal Prediction, Probabilistic (Venn) Prediction, and Deep Learning. Applicants are expected to collaborate with other project members and participate in regular research visits with industry partners AstraZeneca and Vironova.

Qualifications

PhD degree or a foreign degree equivalent to a PhD degree in a relevant field. The PhD degree must have been obtained no more than three years prior to the application deadline. The three year period can be extended due to circumstances such as sick leave, parental leave, duties in labour unions, etc. Documented experience with AI / ML methods and / or computerized image analysis. Experience in programming in eg Python is a requirement. Applicants should have excellent communication skills and be keen to actively interact with other team members including biologists, systems developers and researchers in AI / ML. Furthermore, applicants should be curious and creative, take initiatives and build relationships. Applicants should have good organizational ability, be able to structure work with multiple projects and solve anticipated and unexpected problems. The applicant must be able to express themselves very well in written and oral English

Apply via link at the bottom of the University application: https://www.uu.se/en/about-uu/join-us/details/?positionId=327845 (Please note: You MUST apply to the position via the form at Uppsala University, do not send any application documents to Ola Spjuth by email.)

If you have any questions regarding the project, please contact group leader Ola Spjuth.

Deadline to apply: May 7th, 2020

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HASTE project meeting over zoom.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to enjoy the good food and beautiful environment of the Noor Castle, but we had a productive project meeting anyway. The meeting started with report reading and Salman Toor presenting his docent lecture “Distributed Computing e-Infrastructures (DCI): Challenges and Opportunities for Application Experts and Service Providers”. This was followed by intense brainstorming on the continued research in the project, and a discussion on the almost complete half-time report, and planning for the coming Tuesday seminars, which have become an important part of the project communication now that most of us work from home.

HASTE meeting over Zoom
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HASTE group at the conference: Phenotypic Screening, High-Content Analysis and AI: Overcoming the Challenges

Many in the HASTE team visited the conference: Phenotypic Screening, High-Content Analysis and AI: Overcoming the Challenges that was held March 2-3rd at AstraZeneca, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Ola Spjuth shared the session AI and Machine Learning where Carolina Wählby (PI of HASTE) and Phil Harrison (PhD student in HASTE) gave presentations.

Phil Harrison (PhD student in HASTE) presenting his accepted talk: Deep learning models for RNA- based drug delivery using time-lapse microscopy image data. This project is now published as a preprint:
P. Harrison, H. Wieslander, A. Sabirsh,  J. Karlsson, V. Malmsjö, A. Hellander, C. Wählby,  
O. Spjuth. Deep learning models for lipid-nanoparticle-based drug delivery.
BioRxiv 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.06.027672
Prof. Carolina Wählby (PI of HASTE) and Phil Harrison (PhD student in HASTE) were both part of the Expert Panel discussing “AI and Machine learning in Phenotypic Screening”.
Prof. Carolina Wählby (PI of HASTE) and Dr. Alan Shabirsh (HASTE industry partner at AstraZeneca) were both part of the Expert Panel discussing “The future of phenotypic profiling”.

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Hongru Zhai joins the HASTE team to work on the developing hierarchical representation of the microscopy image data

 

Hongru is a master’s student from the department of statistics, and his main interests in statistics include multivariate statistical methods and Bayesian statistics.

Hongru’s MSc thesis will focus on developing the better hierarchical representations of the microscopy image data from cellular experiments with the help of statistical methods, focusing on improving readability and informational efficiency of the representation.

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Tianru Zhang joins HASTE team as new PhD Student to work on management of large data streams

We welcome Tianru Zhang as new PhD Student in the Hellander lab at the Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University.

Tianru obtained his Bachelor in Probability and Statistics in Mathematics at the University of Science and Technology of China in 2017. Then, he completed his Master in Statistics for Smart Data at ENSAI (The National School of Statistics and Analysis of Information of France) in 2018. Before moving to Uppsala, he was employed as Assistant Researcher at the Fujitsu R&D center Co., Ltd. where he worked on developing DeepTensor (a deep learning method using tensor decomposition) and analyzing data of personal online loans.

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Andrea Behanova joins the HASTE team to work on the enhancement of image quality by registration of short exposure miniTEM images

Andrea is doing a traineeship at the Department of Information Technology – Division of Visual Information and Interaction, Uppsala University while coursing the last semester from the master’s in Medical Physics at the University of Eastern Finland.

Andrea’s internship project focus on developing an approach of registering and aggregating short exposure miniTEM images (superresolution reconstruction). The project objective is to achieve better quality and higher resolution image compare to a long exposure one.

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Ebba Bergman joins HASTE team as PhD student

We welcome Ebba Bergman as new PhD Student in the Spjuth lab at Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Uppsala University.

Ebba obtained her Master of Science in Engineering, with a focus on bioinformatics, from Uppsala University in 2017. Before starting her PhD Ebba worked as a full-stack systems developer for 2 years. 

About the PhD project within HASTE:  
Ebba is currently working on Conformal Prediction (CP) in combination with Convolutional Neural Networks. Next, she will focus on applying Learning Under Privileged Information (LUPI) on transmission electron microscopy data provided by Vironova. In general, Ebba will focus on combining machine learning methods with CP and LUPI using data provided by our HASTE-project partners.

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Presentation at COPA 2019

Ola Spjuth, Co-PI in the HASTE project, presented two accepted HASTE-papers at the [8th Symposium on Conformal and Probabilistic Prediction with Applications](http://clrc.rhul.ac.uk/copa2019) in Varna, Bulgaria on 9-11 Sept 2019. The two papers below are now published in [Proceedings of Machine Learning Research (PMLR) volume 105](https://proceedings.mlr.press/v105/).

Paper 1: Split Knowledge Transfer in Learning Under Privileged Information Framework

Gauraha, N., Söderdahl, F. and Spjuth, O.
Split Knowledge Transfer in Learning Under Privileged Information Framework. 
Proceedings of Machine Learning Research (PMLR). 105, 43-52. (2019).
ABSTRACT
Learning Under Privileged Information (LUPI) enables the inclusion of additional (privileged) information when training machine learning models, data that is not available when making predictions. The methodology has been successfully applied to a diverse set of problems from various fields. SVM+ was the first realization of the LUPI paradigm which showed fast convergence but did not scale well. To address the scalability issue, knowledge transfer approaches were proposed to estimate privileged information from standard features in order to construct improved decision rules. Most available knowledge transfer methods use regression techniques and the same data for approximating the privileged features as for learning the transfer function. Inspired by the cross-validation approach, we propose to partition the training data into K folds and use each fold for learning a transfer function and the remaining folds for approximations of privileged features—we refer to this as split knowledge transfer. We evaluate the method using four different experimental setups comprising one synthetic and three real datasets. The results indicate that our approach leads to improved accuracy as compared to LUPI with standard knowledge transfer.

Paper 2: Combining Prediction Intervals on Multi-Source Non-Disclosed Regression Datasets

Spjuth O., Brännström R.C., Carlsson L. and Gauraha, N.
Combining Prediction Intervals on Multi-Source Non-Disclosed Regression Datasets.
Proceedings of Machine Learning Research (PMLR). 105, 53-65. (2019).
ABSTRACT
Conformal Prediction is a framework that produces prediction intervals based on the output from a machine learning algorithm. In this paper, we explore the case when training data is made up of multiple parts available in different sources that cannot be pooled. We here consider the regression case and propose a method where a conformal predictor is trained on each data source independently, and where the prediction intervals are then combined into a single interval. We call the approach Non-Disclosed Conformal Prediction (NDCP), and we evaluate it on a regression dataset from the UCI machine learning repository using support vector regression as the underlying machine learning algorithm, with a varying number of data sources and sizes. The results show that the proposed method produces conservatively valid prediction intervals, and while we cannot retain the same efficiency as when all data is used, efficiency is improved through the proposed approach as compared to predicting using a single arbitrarily chosen source.