Research

Literature Mining

• SciMiner - Bio-NLP (natural language processing) web application for finding molecular target (gene/protein) in biomedical literatures and functional enrichment analyses (Gene, GO, MeSH, Pathway, and PPI).
• SciMiner-VO - Expansion of SciMiner to include the functionality of identifying Vaccine Ontology (VO) terms and indexing PubMed documents with VOs.
• VIOLIN 2.0 (NIH/NIAID U24; MPI): Vaccine ontology and knowledgebase development integrating AI-based literature mining and ontology-driven annotation.

Systems Pharmacology

Development of a drug-repurposing prioritization system based on high-throughput gene expression/drug perturbation data.

Bioinformatics Approaches to Human Diseases

• Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN): identification of conserved/unique genetic/transcriptomic signatures and the underlying mechanisms of DPN.
• Epileptogenesis: identification of potential therapeutic targets of epileptogenesis conserved/unique genetic/transcriptomic signatures and the underlying mechanisms of DPN.
• Neurological disorders: identification of pathogenic mechanisms of multiple neurological disorders (such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson, Lou Gehrig's disease) using systems biology approaches combining multiple Omics spaces.
• Metabolic Syndrome and Cognitive Impairment: multi-omics studies to understand how metabolic dysfunction and neuroinflammation impair neuronal and glial communication.

Current external supports

• NIAID U24 1U24AI171008 (MPIs: Tao, He, Hur)    
  Role: Co-PI    Total: $3,839,270  (8/2022 – 6/2027)
  Title: VIOLIN 2.0: Vaccine Information and Ontology LInked kNowledgebase
• NIDDK R01 R01DK130913 (MPIs: Feldman, Hur)    
  Role: Co-PI    Total: $2,555,612  (8/2022 – 6/2026)
  Title: Metabolic coupling between Schwann cells and axons is functionally distinct from myelination and is disrupted in obesity, prediabetes, and diabetes
• NIGMS P20 5P20GM113123 (MPI: Bradley, Brissette) HPI COBRE (7/2021-6/2026)  
  Role: Core Director   Total: $778,850 (Core)  
  Title: Center for Excellence in Host Pathogen Interactions
  Note: Establishment and leadership of Computational Data Analysis Core (CDAC)
• NIH/NIGMS 5P20GM155890 CTR  (PI: Schwartz) (7/2024-6/2029)  
  Role: Core Lead    Total: $10,774,235
  Title: Translational Science Engaging North Dakota (TRANSCEND)
  Note: Research Design, Compliance & Data Management Core (RDCDC)
• ARPA-H (PI: Tavakolian) (8/2025-8/2028)
  Role: Co-PI    Total: $19,954,800
  Title: Decentralized Diabetes Data Platform for Senior Health Management