Biostatistics and Computational Biology

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle WA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY Successful biomedical research relies on rich, tailored data resources; valid and efficient analytic methods; and advanced computational tools. The Biostatistics & Computational (BCB) Biology Program delivers innovative research in quantitative and data sciences responsive to these needs by uniting diverse, data-driven faculty to advance cancer research through statistical methods and computational innovation, spanning from methodology to experimentation. The program develops rigorous statistical, computational, and machine learning methods that enable breakthroughs in cancer research. Program members leverage complex datasets integrating diverse data types, populations, and experiments to facilitate biomedical discovery. BCB faculty are at the forefront of biomedical data generation, creating novel technological platforms and companion analytical pipelines that can illuminate new biology relevant to cancer therapeutics and research. The BCB Program currently has 52 members from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and the University of Washington. Our research program portfolio spans a broad range of activities from statistical methods development to biological research that uses experimental studies in conjunction with computational methods. Our statistical research emphasizes analytic approaches to genome-scale data sets, molecular diagnostics, development, and applications of objective measures of lifestyle and environmental exposures, and methods for therapeutic and prevention clinical trials. Biological research is concentrated on cancer-relevant aspects of quantitative immune profiling, infectious disease/microbiome, and basic molecular biology. Our research is characterized by a productive interplay between applied work and methods development. The BCB program currently has $22M in grant funding (direct costs), of which $8.1M is from NCI and $6.1M is from other NIH institutes. This funding includes many methods R01s, research projects led by our faculty, a U01 studying pancreatic cancer, and several coordinating centers, including the Early Detection Research Network: Data Management and Coordinating Center (U24 CA086368), the Southwest Oncology Group Statistics and Data Management Center (U10 CA180819), coordinating centers for early detection of liver cancer (U24 CA230144), and chronic pancreatic, diabetes and pancreatic cancer (U01 DK108328). The BCB program published a total of 861 papers in the previous grant period; 112 were intraprogrammatic and 445 were interprogrammatic. Much research is on the intersection of substantive data science and methods development. Program members, jointly with their students and postdocs, work on development of statistical and computational methods; individual members lead substantive research in data science and collaborate with researchers on projects that apply their newly developed methods.