title: The center for causal discovery of biomedical knowledge from big data.
abstract: The Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Center for Causal Discovery is developing and disseminating an integrated set of open source tools that support causal modeling and discovery of biomedical knowledge from large and complex biomedical datasets. The Center integrates teams of biomedical and data scientists focused on the refinement of existing and the development of new constraint-based and Bayesian algorithms based on causal Bayesian networks, the optimization of software for efficient operation in a supercomputing environment, and the testing of algorithms and software developed using real data from 3 representative driving biomedical projects: cancer driver mutations, lung disease, and the functional connectome of the human brain. Associated training activities provide both biomedical and data scientists with the knowledge and skills needed to apply and extend these tools. Collaborative activities with the BD2K Consortium further advance causal discovery tools and integrate tools and resources developed by other centers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA gfc@pitt.edu.
authors.forename: Gregory F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: Department of Computational and Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Ivet
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bahar
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Becich
authors.affiliation: Department of Computational and Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Panayiotis V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Benos
authors.affiliation: Department of Computational and Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Institute for Personalized Medicine, University of Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Jeremy U
authors.initials: JU
authors.lastname: Espino
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Clark
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Glymour
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca Crowley
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Jacobson
authors.affiliation: Institute for Personalized Medicine, University of Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kienholz
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Adrian V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Xinghua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scheines
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D035843:Biomedical Research; D066264:Datasets as Topic; D006801:Humans; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical; D014481:United States
keywords: Big Data to knowledge (BD2K); biomedical knowledge; biomedical science; causal discovery; center of excellence