Data Management and Analysis Core

Texas A&M University, College Station TX

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Data Management & Analysis Core (DMAC) ABSTRACT The Texas A&M University Superfund Research Center aims to develop descriptive models and tools that can predict the possible hazardous outcomes of chemical exposure during environmental emergencies while providing powerful solutions that can mitigate their negative effects on human health. The Data Management & Analysis Core (DMAC) is one of the key components of the Center that will support all projects and cores in their data management, analysis, quality control needs. Directed by Dr. Efstratios N. Pistikopoulos and in collaboration with co-Investigators Dr. Fred A. Wright, Dr. Lan Zhou, and Dr. Candice Brinkmeyer-Langford, the DMAC will provide a number of essential services to the Center’s researchers by assisting them is achieving key environmental and biomedical outcomes under four specific aims: (i) providing a new platform for data management and sharing across the Center, (ii) applying best-practice analysis methods to Center data, (iii) developing new methods that are urgently needed to solve the problems posed in the Projects, and (iv) maintaining research and data quality control protocols for the Center. The DMAC will establish a data universe (“dataverse”) for data sharing, integration, and collaboration. The “dataverse” will be used to manage Center datasets where each component will securely deposit and access data through a web-based platform and ensure Center generated data comply with Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) principles. The DMAC will also provide additional assistance in developing and utilizing advanced data science methodologies for translating raw experimental data into actionable insights and predictive models for all projects. Project 1 will perform and optimize ion mobility spectrometry and mass spectrometry analyses of complex environmental samples; DMAC will provide guidance on geospatial sampling, feature selection, and classification analysis. Project 2 will develop in vitro pediatric lung model to characterize respiratory risks from VOCs; DMAC will perform concentration-response modeling, nonlinear, and spatial modeling techniques to evaluate the respiratory risks from ambient VOCs. Project 3 will address pregnancy risk implications of exposures to hazardous substances by developing a feto-maternal interface organ-on-a-chip model; DMAC will provide expertise in hypothesis testing, regression analysis, and ANOVA testing for analyzing proinflammatory cytokine measures. Project 4 will utilize in vitro cultures and reverse toxicokinetic analysis to characterize hazards of environmental mixtures; DMAC will provide service in analyzing high-content screening data, high-throughput transcriptomics data, and will perform population variability analyses. Project 5 will study the mitigation of adverse health effects of chemicals through broad-acting sorption materials; DMAC will provide services for experimental design and statistical testing. The DMAC, working in concert with the Research Experience & Training Coordination Core, will provide data science training workshops for Center personnel. Finally, DMAC will develop Quality Assurance Project Plans to cover all aspects of quality assurance and control for all Center components.