LIH PhD student wins Benelux Women in AI Award for achievements in AI-driven bioinformatics

Maryna Chepeleva receives AI Young Professional at the 2025 Benelux Women in AI Awards

• Department of Cancer Research
• Multiomics Data Science

Maryna Chepeleva, a PhD student at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), has received the AI Young Professional Award at the 2025 Benelux Women in AI Awards. She is the first winner from Luxembourg to earn this prestigious recognition, which honours significant contributions at the intersection of artificial intelligence and bioinformatics, particularly in advancing cancer research.

The awards ceremony in Amsterdam brought together prominent women AI leaders from across the BeNeLux region, underscoring the importance of diversity and inclusion within this rapidly evolving field. In addition to receiving the award, Maryna will be featured in the Equals 2025 Role Model Campaign during International Women’s Month in March, further highlighting her achievements and encouraging more women to pursue careers in artificial intelligence.

Working within the Multiomics Data Science Research Group (MODAS) at the Department of Cancer Research, LIH, Maryna focuses on developing computational methods to analyse gene expression and metabolomics data. Her integrative approach to multiomics data analysis has facilitated the discovery of biomarkers and mechanisms underlying cancer that could lead to more targeted and effective cancer treatments.

One of her notable contributions is the consICA R/Bioconductor package, an unsupervised learning tool designed for robust pattern extraction from complex molecular datasets. This tool significantly improves cancer subtype classification and strengthens predictive modelling in oncology.

“This recognition highlights the importance of our research in understanding cancer. By integrating multiple layers of biological data using AI, we can move closer to more effective and personalized treatments“, stated Maryna.

Dr Petr Nazarov, head of the BIOAI and MODAS at the LIH, commented:

Maryna’s accomplishments are significant for both our team and institution. They highlight the potential of AI in biomedical research and support our strategy of biologists, bioinformaticians, and AI specialists working together. I believe our team will significantly contribute to the advancements in personalized cancer care.

Through continued dedication to her research, Maryna’s innovative application of AI methodologies addresses significant challenges in cancer biology, demonstrating the transformative impact of AI on biomedical science.