Bioinformatics Core

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Summary of Bioinformatics Core Readouts of cellular states produced by “omics” experimental platforms have become indispensable in modern Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) research. Increasingly, newly generated omics data is complemented by public domain Big Data resources. Translating omics data into mechanistic understanding of biological processes underlying complex diseases require advanced computational and data resources, and application of sophisticated bioinformatics methods. The breath of bioinformatics methods and tools used in modern EHS research necessitates involvement of experts in different areas of biomedical data sciences, often going beyond boundaries of individual EHS Core Centers. The fundamental role of the Bioinformatics Core (BC) is to provide CEG scientists with comprehensive, high-quality and cost-effective Bioinformatics support. BC provides unique services that have been extensively used by CEG investigators and are likely to only increase in importance in the next period. In addition to using state-of-the-art methods and tools, BC members will develop new resources for analysis of omics data. BC will also develop Environmental Health LINCS (ehLincs), an EHS-centric web data analysis portal as an interface between EHS scientists and the rapidly growing biomedical Big Data resources. In fulfilling its role, BC is leveraging hardware, software, data resources and know-how resulting from years of institutional investment as well as resources developed by BC and other NIH projects lead by BC members, including the BD2K-LINCS U54 center. Core’s computational resources are augmented by the High Performance Computing (HPC) resources at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and BC member’s expertise is augmented by Bioinformatics and data science consultants covering a broad range of expertise. BC has three specific aims: 1) To assist CEG investigators in experimental design, analysis and management of omics data; 2) To assist CEG investigators in leveraging public domain Big Data resources in their research and to develop ehLincs portal. 3) To assist CEG investigators in dealing with diverse bioinformatics challenges by connecting them to a network of internal and external consultants. BC will also continue to support other CEG functions: It will directly support the work of Integrative Technologies Support (ITS) core by providing computational support and assisting in deploying new analytical platforms; It will work with the Community Engagement Core (CEC) to develop a web portal for managing and visualizing data collected by citizen scientists; It will support the work of Integrated Health Sciences (IHSF) core by analysis of genetics and epigenetics datasets; It will support Pilot Project Program (PPP) by prioritizing support to CEG pilot project recipients. BC will also serve the wider EHS research community by building the ehLincs web portal to facilitate EHS-centric use of biomedical Big Data resources.