Using Big Data to Find Answers About Diabetes

The Indiana Biosciences Research Institute is located in the 16 Tech Biotechnology Research & Training Center.

Indiana Biosciences Research Institute Chief Executive Officer David Broecker says a new research collaboration with some big names in the industry will resemble the "typical" project he expects the institute to take on in the future. The work will involve analyzing data from nearly every Type 2 diabetes patient in Indiana to better understand variations of the disease. Researchers hope the project will eventually lead to more targeted treatments and improved diagnostic tools. The IBRI will work with Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY), Roche Diagnostics, the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine on the big data collaboration.

Broecker tells Inside INdiana Business the IBRI is already "teeing up" additional partnerships for next year. He says one of the first areas of focus at the institute is applied data science. "None of this data is data that we generated ourselves. These are all data sources that come from public and private sources, but we kind of can be this place in the middle and create the opportunities for companies and the IBRI and Indiana University to evaluate data in different ways from their own perspective all trying to solve a big problem like better understanding Type 2 diabetes."

The institute says the project is the first of its kind and will involve data on more than 800,000 Hoosiers with Type 2 diabetes. "The ability to look at this from multiple perspectives and have companies that will also be looking at this from multiple perspectives is very, very important," says Broecker. "You can take two people that look very similar in terms of their demographics and their height and weight and their habits — and one has diabetes and one doesn’t — and the fundamental question is ‘why?’" He hopes this deep dive using a wide range of data sources will help provide answers. The project is slated to be complete in the second quarter of next year.

You can connect to more about the collaboration by clicking here.