Core E: Comparative Data Analytics Core

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The Comparative Data Analytics Core (CDAC) will provide not only high-level customized statistical support for basic science investigators studying aging and energetics in diverse model organisms at UAB, but also a venue for development of de novo methods specially for such research, a nidus for training others at and beyond UAB in such research, and a platform for the dissemination of such methods to the aging research community at large. The core leadership comprises statistical scientists with a 20-year history of studying the interface of aging, energetics and body composition. They bring not only their statistical expertise, but their experience with and zeal for the science of comparative studies at the interface of aging and energetics. The need for specialized statistical expertise, training, and support in aging research is clear. Statistical analyses of aging research data provide many challenges. Aging research involves longitudinal analyses and modeling the dependency of multiple observations taken over time, and accommodating the missing data which commonly occurs with longitudinal studies. With time-to-event (e.g., survival) outcomes, left, right, and interval censoring add further complexities. Statistical approaches in comparative biology face challenges such as phylogenetic dependence among model residuals, complicating inference. Non-statistician researchers benefit from the support and involvement of statistical scientists who are deeply involved in the subject matter, who can tailor methods to the situation at hand, who work with the biologists from the beginning as an engaged part of the research team, who can discuss the methods with the biologists and explain the statistical procedures and who can develop new statistical methods for specific needs. To that end, the UAB CDAC offers the following specific aims: 1. To provide statistical support for UAB investigators studying the comparative energetics of aging, including traditional, specialized, and bespoke methods. 2. To provide statistical support for non-UAB investigators studying the comparative energetics of aging, including traditional, specialized, and bespoke methods. 3. To conduct high-level statistical investigations of secondary data to answer questions about the comparative energetics of aging. 4. To develop and evaluate statistical methods needed in the field of the comparative energetics of aging. 5. To provide an organized series of educational offerings on statistical methods for the comparative energetics of aging which permit dissemination of expertise and knowledge to the broader scientific community. An investment in this core will achieve dividends by catalyzing more informative and rigorous research on aging within the UAB NSC and for the community of aging researchers at large.