School of Medicine

Center for Bioinformatics Services (CBS)

Data Management and Analysis Services  

There has been much progress in genomics over the last two decades. Opportunities for understanding health and disease are now unprecedented, as advances in genomics are harnessed to obtain robust foundational knowledge about the genomic basis of common human diseases and drivers of clinical outcomes. With continued advances in genomic research, the major bottleneck in biomedical research is no longer data generation—the computational challenges around data analysis, display and integration are now rate limiting. Increasingly, bioinformatics and computational genomics analysis is a bottleneck in the research process. Datasets continue to grow in volume, velocity, variety, veracity and value and complexity, and typically requiring the intelligent use of many different tools to be transformed and turned into liquidity and knowledge to improve human health. New approaches and methods are required to meet these challenges. The BIDSSC addresses this critical need by providing bioinformatics and data analytics solutions and support services to the research community. Here we provide a list of some of the services provided by the center to the research community at competitive cost recovery rates. Our skilled Bioinformatics and Data Analysis group are able to help address your bioinformatics needs in a number of ways, and we have the experience to assist you at every step of the process. Our expertise spans a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to:

 

 

There are three main areas in which we can help you:

 

1. Project work

 

We'll arrange an initial consultation to understand your requirements and priorities and will then develop a plan to show you how we can complete your analysis. We are happy to identify any specific software that you need and will also be able to discuss alternative software solutions that you may not be aware of. This task can be accomplished through our Free Clinic at no charge.  

We'll provide regular progress reports and when the analysis is finished we'll provide you with all output files including result tables and Figures that we have generated. In addition, we'll help you write the Methods section for any papers or grants relating to the work.

 

 

2. Consulting

 

There is a bewildering choice of bioinformatics software available in the public domain. Their complexity varies considerably and it can often be difficult to choose the tools that will be most suitable for your data or fit your skills. The BIDSSC is well-positioned to help you with this by meeting with you to help design experiments and discuss the most effective ways to analyze and interpret your data. If you want to carry out your own bioinformatics analysis but have some questions along the way, we'll help troubleshoot your work as needed and possibly train you in the use of publicly available tools. This service is provided to faculty, staff, postdocs and students.

 

 

3. Providing expert solutions and letters of support on grant applications

 

Let us help you secure research funding to support your research! To assist with your grant proposals we provide service support on experimental design, describing data analysis strategy. We also write customized support letters that describe the infrastructure and bioinformatics analyses that are available that will facilitate your research and ensure successful execution of your project. A list of publications featuring the work of the Data Analysis provided by our group is available. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to begin a discussion about how we can help you with your research project and or grant preparation.