Two researchers from AU and SDU receive funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation
Steen Thorbjørnsen and Jacob von Bornemann Hjelmborg receive funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation for the Project "Kernel Embeddings for Disease Prevention".
The project is a collaboration between Steen Thorbjørnsen from the Department of Mathematics, Aarhus University, and Jacob von Bornemann Hjelmborg from the Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark (SDU). The project originates from a series of papers authored by a group of Japanese researchers in mathematics, data science, and statistics, led by Yuka Hashimoto. In this series, new statistical methods are developed for analysing data based on the theory of operator algebras – particularly so-called Hilbert C*-modules – and it is argued that these methods capture structural features such as continuity and differentiability in certain types of data more effectively than conventional statistical approaches.
The fundamental idea of our project is to combine the theory developed by Hashimoto et al. with the theory of so-called random projections, which allow high-dimensional data to be transformed into a lower-dimensional space where classical statistical methods can be applied computationally efficiently, while largely preserving the essential properties of the original data,"
explains Steen Thorbjørnsen
Ultimately, the methods developed in the project will be applied to the analysis of concrete datasets, including studies of twins, in order to investigate the prevention of certain forms of cancer.
“We are very grateful for the support from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which covers a PhD scholarship as well as conference and travel expenses related to the project,”
says Steen Thorbjørnsen