AI for Digital Life, Challenges, Methods and Applications: Ambitious Talents wanted

Speaker: Prof. Hongmin Cai
South China University of Technology / The School of Future Technology

Title: AI for Digital Life, Challenges, Methods and Applications: Ambitious Talents wanted

Date: Tuesday, 20 January 2026

Time: 3:00pm - 4:30pm

Venue: Room 5508, 5/F Academic Building, Lift 25/26

Abstract:

Driven by the global convergence of life sciences and engineering, South China University of Technology established the School of Future Technology at its Guangzhou International Campus to lead innovation in the Greater Bay Area. The School is dedicated to advancing digital-based life science research with the overarching goal of fundamentally improving human health. Our interdisciplinary faculty targets the core cascade of disease progression, specifically from gene dysregulation and cellular imbalance to tissue changes, developing multi-scale theories and algorithms that link genotypes to phenotypes.

This vision is enabled by the Digital Life Spatial-temporal Computing Innovation Research Platform, a comprehensive facility that supports molecular subtyping, pathological screening, and imaging diagnostics. Leveraging this world-class infrastructure, we aim to lay the scientific foundation for constructing digital cells and, ultimately, human digital twins, ushering in a new era of precision medicine.

Biography:

Hongmin Cai is the Dean of the School of Future Technology at South China University of Technology, a Joint Appointment Professor in the School of Computer Science, an IET Fellow, and an IEEE Senior Member. His research centers on biomedical artificial intelligence and data analysis. He has published over 190 SCI/EI-indexed papers, including articles in top-tier journals such as IEEE TPAMI. He has led more than ten major research projects, including the National Key Research and Development Program of China and the NSFC Outstanding Youth Fund. He currently serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE TNNLS, IEEE TETCI, Frontiers in Genetics, and Fundamental Research. In 2024, he received the First Prize of the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award.