Congratulations to Associate Professors Zhengzheng Tang and Guanhua Chen and graduate students Jifan Gao and Zhoujingpeng Wei for winning Task 1 of the Preterm Birth Prediction – Microbiome DREAM Challenge. The predictive tool they developed in answer to the challenge of Task 1 was selected as the best of the 100 submissions for Task 1. The team is invited to present their work at the annual RegSys DREAM Challenge meeting and they will receive $2,500 to support their travel to the meeting.
Globally, about 11% of infants every year are born preterm, defined as birth prior to 37 weeks of gestation. Infants born preterm are at risk for a variety of adverse outcomes. The ability to accurately predict which women are at a higher risk for preterm birth would help healthcare providers to treat them in a timely manner. Recent research suggests that the vaginal microbiome plays a significant role in adverse pregnancy outcomes, specifically preterm birth. Task 1 was to develop tools that answer the computational challenges of predicting preterm birth.
Congratulations to all for a job well done!