China, Canada university partnership to build artificial brain models

Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University and Canada’s University of Calgary signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday for joint research on precision medicine.

The China-Canada Precision Medicine Association the two founded will build artificial brain models for many diseases, including Parkinson’s, through collaboration with the Tianhe-2 supercomputer center at Sun Yat-sen University and Canadian experts in the second generation of wearable technology.

The association, which has more than 20 members, will use large data, machine learning and artificial intelligence platforms to establish in two years a network of family medical and rehabilitation services for 20,000 people with neurological disorders, said Xiao Haipeng, vice-president of Sun Yat-sen University and president of the university’s First Affiliated Hospital.

In China, at least 2.5 million people suffer from Parkinson’s disease, Xiao said.