Bioinformatics Shared Resource

Roswell Park Cancer Institute Corp, Buffalo NY

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Formally established in mid-2010 to address the growing demand for in-depth bioinformatics support from CCSG investigators of Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the Bioinformatics Shared Resource is a new full Shared Resource. A key mission of the Resource is to provide state-of-art bioinformatics assistance for the design, analysis, and interpretation of genomics, proteomics, and other high-resolution, high-throughput based studies for better understanding of cancer biology, thereby facilitating translation of cancer omics discoveries to cancer treatment. Services include: directing the design of high-throughput experiments, raw omics data processing, data analysis and interpretation, data mining and integration, assistance in the design and deployment of appropriate informatics infrastructure for data sharing and management, reviewing and preparing grants and manuscripts, software evaluation, new method and database development, and education and training. The bioinformatics expertise provided by the resource personnel ensures that the yield of useful information from the scientific studies conducted at RPCI is maximized while costs are minimized. The Resource leaders are Song Liu, PhD (GN), Resource Director and Vice Chair of RPCI's Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, and Jianmin Wang, PhD (GN), Resource Co-Director. The Bioinformatics Resource and the Biostatistics Resource coordinate service and support activities through regular planning meetings, ensuring the CCSG investigators have full analytic coverage from clinical and preclinical biostatistics to statistical genetics and to bioinformatics, while receiving focused support on each discipline. In addition, the Resource has developed a synergistic working relationship with the Genomics, Clinical Data Network, Pathology Resource Network, and Data Bank and BioRepository Shared Resources and the Information Technology department to ensure coordination of experiment and analytics through the different phases of a cancer research project. Potential collaborators learn about the Resource via referrals by CCSG members, formal seminars given by Resource personnel, CCSG Program meetings, the Scientific Review Committee, the RPCI website, and general announcements to the Institute's scientific community. Prioritization for use is given to 1) peer-reviewed funded RPCI CCSG members; 2) non-peer-reviewed funded CCSG members; 3) non-members and academic collaborators; and 4) external users. During the reporting period, the Bioinformatics Shared Resource served 113 members from 6 research programs, with 37% utilization by CCSG members with peer-reviewed funding. CCSG funding comprises 5% of the overall proposed budget