Statistical Methods in Epidemiology

Biometry

The institute has been in the position to assemble biometricians experienced in a wide range of epidemiological studies (case control, cohort, cross-sectional, longitudinal, incidence studies, etc.) as permanent staff. For specific research projects, a number of short-term employees as well as postgraduate students (usually financed by third parties) extend the range of methods employed in the department. In this context the department also offers the opportunity to write a PhD thesis.

Methods development

We are presently working on diverse topics: these include statistical issues related to the pharmacoepidemiologic research database (twophase studies, control for confounding - Statistical Modeling of Secondary and Registry Data Unit), improvement of statistical procedures in the analysis of gene-gene- and gene-environment interactions, the identification of biological pathways involved in the development of diseases and in the statistical modeling of pathways, accumulations of risk or critical time periods in life-course epidemiology, statistical modeling of nutrition data and use of geographical information systems in epidemiologic studies (Statistical Modeling of Primary Data Unit). Furthermore, the department engages in the development of methods for causal inference, e.g. for instrumental variables or time-varying confounding (Statistical Methods for Causal Inference Research Group), and statistical machine learning (Emmy Noether Junior Research Group: Beyond Prediction - Statistical Inference). With the improved accessibility of research data, development of methods for analysis and combining data, for example by means of record linkage or distributed analyses, is increasingly important.

Statistical support - quantitative methods consulting service

The department also houses a methods consultancy service that is used BIPS-internally as well as externally by other research institutions and scientifically working clinicians, primarily from Bremen and the surrounding region. Support is mainly requested in the planning phase of studies e.g. on the selection of the study design or on sample size calculations. Appropriate analysis methods are proposed and/or developed and support in the application of methods as well as in the interpretation and presentation of results is provided.

Within the inter-departmental working group GeTTCausal (GePaRD & Target Trials for Causal Inference), we combine expertise in secondary data analysis, causal inference, and clinical epidemiology to best analyze important causal questions based on GePaRD using the "target trial emulation" (TTE) approach.

Staff

Bergen, Luca
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56796
bergen(at)leibniz-bips.de

Börnhorst, Claudia, Dr.
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56946
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
boern(at)leibniz-bips.de

Braitmaier, Malte, Dr.
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56983
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
braitmaier(at)leibniz-bips.de

Buck, Christoph, Dr.
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56944
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
buck(at)leibniz-bips.de

Burk, Lukas
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56955
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
burk(at)leibniz-bips.de

Didelez, Vanessa, Prof. Dr.
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56939
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
didelez(at)leibniz-bips.de

Foraita, Ronja, Dr.
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56954
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
foraita(at)leibniz-bips.de

Frielinghaus, Maria
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56791
Frielinghaus(at)leibniz-bips.de

Gabbert, Anja
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56934
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
gabbert(at)leibniz-bips.de

Gesing, Nils Fabian
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56935
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
gesing(at)leibniz-bips.de

Golchian, Pegah
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56790
golchian(at)leibniz-bips.de

Herbinger, Julia, Dr.
herbinger(at)leibniz-bips.de

Kapar, Jan
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56929
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
kapar(at)leibniz-bips.de

Koenen, Niklas
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56933
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-5641
koenen(at)leibniz-bips.de

Kollhorst, Bianca, Dr.
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56980
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
kollhorst(at)leibniz-bips.de

Langbein, Sophie
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56886
langbein(at)leibniz-bips.de

Ludewig, Alina
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56882
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
ludewig(at)leibniz-bips.de

Niemeyer, Marieke
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56876
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
niemeyer(at)leibniz-bips.de

Pohlabeln, Hermann, Dr.
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56947
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
pohlabeln(at)leibniz-bips.de

Runge, Lea
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56979
runge(at)leibniz-bips.de

Schaffer, Inga
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56871
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
schaffer(at)leibniz-bips.de

Viebrock, Jost
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56951
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
viebrock(at)leibniz-bips.de

Volkmar, Philipp Alexander
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56948
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
volkmar(at)leibniz-bips.de

Wright, Marvin N., Prof. Dr.
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56945
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
wright(at)leibniz-bips.de

Zhang, Jiumeng
zhang(at)leibniz-bips.de

Departmental News

Funding in the Millions for New AI Research Group

As part of a strategic funding initiative on artificial intelligence (AI), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [German Research Foundation – DFG] is establishing eight new research groups. One of them is coming to Bremen – the research group “Lifespan AI: From Longitudinal Data to Lifespan Inference in Health” headed by Professor Tanja Schultz from the University of Bremen and Professor Marvin N. Wright from the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS.

The AI research groups aim to closely integrate AI methods with research fields that use these approaches for interdisciplinary themes. Thus, the integration of AI into basic research and the scientific research of AI itself go hand in hand. The new research group called FOR 5347 Lifespan AI will initially receive funding of more than four million euros for four years.


“I am very pleased about the DFG’s approval,” says Professor Tanja Schultz, the spokesperson for Lifespan AI and a professor at the University of Bremen’s Faculty of Mathematics/Computer Science. “In Lifespan AI, we aim to develop AI methods and tools that model, predict, and explain the development of diseases over the course of someone’s life.” Co-spokesperson Professor Marvin N. Wright from the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS adds: “We will do this by drawing on high-dimensional life span data compiled from longitudinal epidemiological studies. The data is supplemented by biological, social, and lifestyle information.”


Professor Jutta Günther, Vice President for Research and designated President, is also pleased about the establishment of the high-ranking research group at the University of Bremen and the comprehensive third-party funding that it brings. “In this endeavor, cutting-edge technologies are developed and used to generate scientific knowledge for the benefit of humanity, exemplifying the university’s commitment to answering questions about the future of our society,” Günther says. Professor Iris Pigeot, who is the BIPS Director, adds: “The research group is an excellent example of how fruitful collaboration is between the university and non-university research institutions, in this case with the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS.”


Lifespan AI: Here’s What It’s All about


In Lifespan AI, sensitive data is used in compliance with ethical and privacy conditions to drive machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models. The aim is to gain causal insights to uncover the causes of complex diseases and optimize prevention strategies.


The work program consists of six projects grouped into three themes that pursue the Lifespan AI vision from different perspectives: data and methods (D), models and interpretation (M), and inference and causality (C). D1 will advance DL strategies to explore and process long-term temporal change based on the integration of high-dimensional data from multiple sources; D2 will combine neural networks and mixed-effects models to predict individual health trajectories over the course of someone’s life; M1 will develop “normalizing flow” methods to derive joint distributions and conditional densities for health data; M2 will create a cognitive digital twin from everyday human activities to predict change across age groups; C1 will develop time-adaptive, explainable AI methods for recurrent neural networks and event times; and C2 will derive a framework for “causal discovery” in longitudinal studies, combining different data sets and accounting for nonlinearities.


Long-Standing Research Cooperation Forms the Basis


The research group is based on the long-standing institutional research cooperation between the University of Bremen and BIPS. It is supported by ten applicants from these two institutions, who together cover the central disciplines: Professor Michael Beetz (AI & Robotics, University of Bremen), Dr. Claudia Börnhorst (Epidemiology, BIPS), Professor Werner Brannath (Statistics & Biometry, University of Bremen), Professor Vanessa Didelez (Causal Inference, BIPS), Professor Horst Hahn (Medical Imaging & AI, University of Bremen), Professor Peter Maaß (Mathematical Analysis of ML, University Bremen), Professor Iris Pigeot (Statistics & Epidemiology, Director of BIPS), Dr. Felix Putze (Adaptive Interaction Systems, University of Bremen), Professor Tanja Schultz (Cognitive Systems & ML, University of Bremen), and Professor Marvin N. Wright (Statistical Learning, BIPS). The research group is also supported by the new cooperative professorship in “Machine Learning in Statistics” at the interface between AI and epidemiology, which serves as a bridge professorship and is filled by Professor Marvin N. Wright.


In addition, the Lifespan AI research group has arranged for Professor Haizhou Li to be a Mercator Fellow. Li has already been closely cooperating with the University of Bremen for years as a professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and as U Bremen Excellence Chair. International collaborators Dr. Rudi GJ Westendorp from the University of Copenhagen and Dr. Michael Wand from the Swiss AI Lab IDSIA are also involved.


The total funding amount will predominantly be used to finance nine PhD student positions and the establishment of an IT infrastructure that will be used jointly by the University of Bremen and BIPS to support the computationally intensive DL models.


Contact:


Professor Tanja Schultz

Faculty of Mathematics/Computer Science

University of Bremen

Tel.: +49 421 218-64270

Email: tanja.schultz@uni-bremen.de

Professor Tanja Schultz from the University of Bremen and Professor Marvin N. Wright from BIPS head the new research group for artificial intelligence in Bremen.
Professor Tanja Schultz from the University of Bremen and Professor Marvin N. Wright from BIPS head the new research group for artificial intelligence in Bremen. © Kevin Scheck / Universität Bremen