STATISTICAL COMPUTING CORE

Harvard School Of Public Health, Boston MA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Research computing and the linkage, management, and storage of very large databases, are now an essential part of cancer research. Analysis of high dimensional data for cancer research has become highly interdisciplinary and the access to specialized fields (e.g. informatics, statistical programming, computational biology. Geographic Information Systems, system administration, and data base management) is of paramount importance. While the price of computation and storage has steadily decreased, the cost of highly specialized research computing expertise and administration of large data sets has increased and will continue to increase. In addition, the large number of requirements for research data security calls for a centralized infrastructure that can provide access to secure data sets and, at the same time, enormous computational power. The overall purpose of the Statistical Computing Core (SCC) is to ensure that all Program investigators have access to linked and securely stored datasets and cutting edge statistical computing support for the three proposed research projects. The specific aims are: 1) Provide access to state of the art research computing expertise and infrastructure (Aim 1); 2) Develop a comprehensive data management structure for the Program Project (Aim 2); 3) Provide access to specialized expertise such as GIS, bioinformatics; and statistical programming (Aim 3); and 4) Support and disseminate software to the research community and maintain the Program Project website (Aim 4).