Project Grant 2302637

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Integrative Activities awarded a $533,752 Project Grant to Meharry Medical College, a private, historically Black academic health science center located in Nashville, Tennessee. The grant is funded under the Integrative Activities program (CFDA 47.083), which aims to enhance the competitiveness of the nation's research through activities that build capacity for science and engineering and broaden participation in research and education.

The objective of this 3-year research project is to design, implement, and evaluate a novel protein function prediction pipeline using generative deep learning powered by a heterogeneous knowledge graph. The project aims to address challenges in multi-omics data integration, explainable function prediction, and research reproducibility. Key deliverables include: 1) development of a novel generative deep learning model on a knowledge graph, 2) integration of multi-omics features through a large language model, and 3) creation of reproducible open-source software to facilitate broader use by the scientific community. This research project will also create new education and outreach opportunities to strengthen computational biology training and research activities, particularly for African American and female students at Meharry Medical College, a leading Historically Black College and University (HBCU).