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SpecialSession: Networks and Graph Neural Networks for Bridging Bioinformatics and Medicine

Networks and Graph Neural Networks for Bridging Bioinformatics and Medicine

Pietro GuzziPietro Guzzi
Valentina CarbonariValentina Carbonari
Annamaria DefilippoAnnamaria Defilippo
Ugo LomoioUgo Lomoio
Barbara PuccioBarbara Puccio

The workshop aims to strengthen the dialogue between computational scientists, bioinformaticians, and clinicians by focusing on the role of network science and graph neural networks (GNNs) in modeling complex biological and medical systems. It seeks to highlight methodological innovations, promote interdisciplinary collaboration, and identify emerging challenges that must be addressed to translate graph-based models into clinically meaningful insights. The scope of the workshop encompasses both theoretical and applied research on network modeling and GNNs across biological and clinical domains. Topics of interest include network-based representations of omics and multi-omics data, the design and application of GNN architectures for molecular, cellular, and patient-level data, and the development of explainable and interpretable models tailored to biomedical applications. The workshop also invites studies demonstrating translational potential in disease characterization, drug discovery, and precision medicine, as well as practical case studies linking computational pipelines to diagnostic or therapeutic interpretation. By bridging graph learning techniques with biomedical research, the workshop will foster a deeper integration of computational models into clinical and translational workflows. It aims to catalyze collaborations, strengthen the community around graph-based bioinformatics, and stimulate the adoption of AI-driven network methodologies within precision health.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Network-based modeling of biological systems, including omics and multi-omics data integration.Graph neural network architectures for molecular interactions, cellular pathways, and gene regulatory networks.Patient similarity graphs and clinical data representation using graph learning.Explainable graph machine learning methods, including attention mechanisms and interpretability techniques for biomedical applications.Disease prediction and progression modeling with clinical and imaging data via GNNs.Drug discovery applications, such as target identification, repurposing, and mechanistic modeling.Hybrid symbolic-neural approaches combining knowledge graphs with deep learning.Benchmarking graph models on biological and medical datasets.Real-world case studies linking bioinformatics pipelines to precision medicine outcomes.

Contacts