AI Research Catalyst Fund Awardees Virtual Seminar Series

“Parasitic Nematode Identification with Deep Learning“

by Dr. Alina Zare,  Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department 

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

ABSTRACT:

Nematodes are the most abundant and ubiquitous animals on Earth. Of crucial import are nematodes that infect animals/humans and plants. Worldwide, nematode infections affect over 50% of all humans, causing severe illness and hundreds of thousands of deaths (Chan 1997; Horton 2003). Plant-parasitic nematodes (PPN) are one of the most important pests of all major cultivated crops, responsible for over 125 billion dollars in yield losses annually (Chitwood, 2003). Identifying nematode species and abundances allows for informed management recommendations and is a platform for the detection of new and emerging pests that can direct quarantine and sanitation procedures. Developing effective management strategies begins with the critical step of identifying the pests present, and their destructive potential to human health and the economy. Accurate and rapid nematode identification is paramount to informing critical management decisions in human/animal health and agriculture.  In this work, we will leverage the large number of samples sent to the UF Nematode Assay Lab to annotate microscopic images of nematodes important to agriculture.  Using these samples, a deep algorithm will be developed to automate the differentiation between species and allow for interaction with expert to continually improve the approach over time.

Bio:

Alina Zare teaches and conducts research in the area of machine learning and artificial intelligence as a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Florida. Dr. Zare’s research has focused primarily on developing new machine learning algorithms to automatically understand and process data and imagery. Her research work has included automated plant root phenotyping using visual and X-ray imagery, 3D reconstruction and analysis of X-ray micro-CT imagery, sub-pixel hyperspectral image analysis, target detection and underwater scene understanding using synthetic aperture sonar, LIDAR data analysis, Ground Penetrating Radar analysis, and buried landmine and explosive hazard detection. She earned her Ph.D. in December 2008 from the University of Florida. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Florida in 2016, Dr. Zare was faculty at the University of Missouri.

Wednesday, Mar. 16, 2022
12:00PM – 1:00PM
Via Zoom

RSVP below. Instructions to attend talk via Zoom will be emailed to you.