Our research program develops integrative omics and data science approaches to unravel the mechanisms underlying cardiovascular phenotypes. This involves analytical and computational methods investigating the relationship between genes, proteins, drug-targets, and their dynamics underlying the complex physiology of normal and diseased systems. We integrate these insights with the vast clinical and experimental knowledge uncovered by mining text datasets, omics datasets, time-series datasets, and imaging datasets. Since 1996, the program has published more than 200+ peer-reviewed papers spanning cardiovascular medicine, medical informatics, and omics phenotyping using approaches of deep-learning and large language models. We leverage advanced data science biomedical techniques to clarify how protein expression, timing govern organelle function and, ultimately, cardiovascular phenotypes. We have created computational workflows to automate the characterization of multiple proteins at proteome-scale to capture an expanded range of protein features, quantifying proteome-wide post-translational modifications (including oxidative-stress marks), mapping sub-cellular localizations, and tracking rapid temporal shifts to reveal previously unseen disease pipelines that convert massive collections of clinical case reports into actionable knowledge.
In partnership with the NIH Bridge2AI Training Program, we host hands-on use-case projects that let Bridge2AI Scholars apply these tools directly. This collaboration strengthens the pipeline of AI-literate biomedical scientists needed for the next era of cardiovascular research.
The program's director, Dr. Peipei Ping, is deeply committed to nurturing the next generation of AI-driven biomedical researchers, clinicians, and health-care professionals. That commitment is supported by two active U54 awards: CONNECT (U54 OD036472), which funds a Sustainability Core to preserve and share NIH Common Fund digital assets, and Building BRIDGEs (U54 HG012517), which anchors the Bridge2AI Coordination Center’s ethics, standards, and workforce initiatives. By stewarding national data resources and shaping AI-readiness training at scale, these grants create the learning opportunities that Dr. Ping envisions supporting emerging talent.
Dr. Peipei Ping distills the program’s mission as follows: "We rigorously pursue the heart's most elusive mysteries, but encourage pause to appreciate the subtle cadence of each beat that makes discovery and life so rewarding."
