The Biostatistics Core Facility is a defined group of faculty biostatisticians, staff statistical analysts and computer/administrative personnel whose mission is to provide state of the art biostatistical collaboration and support to Cancer Center members.
The specific aims of the Core are to provide expertise in study design, data analysis and database management, interact with relevant Cancer Center shared resources, provide statistical input to investigator initiated protocols and statistical review of all new Cancer Center studies through the Protocol Review and Monitoring System, perform research in statistical methodology and implement innovative statistical techniques as they apply to Cancer Center members'projects, provide education in biostatistical methods to Cancer Center members and other persons performing cancer related research, and disseminate the teaching process to national and international entities beyond the Cancer Center. Over the past five years, the Core has achieved its primary goals by providing statistical collaboration and consultation to members of all Programs in the Cancer Center, with collaboration from other Cores. Two Core biostatisticians (one as co-chair) attend each of the bi-weekly Scientific Review Committee meetings. All protocols, chart reviews, letters of intent and amendments are reviewed by a biostatistician. The Core has been instrumental in recruiting two junior faculty statisticians with strength in statistical methodology development and application. The Core collaborated on the currently NCI funded Prostate SPORE, the Phase I and 11 Chemoprevention NCI Contract, the Physical Sciences Oncology Center and the Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence. The Core participated in various Cancer Center education endeavors and has national and international presence in bioinformatics and clinical trials training. Core members co-authored 135 peer-reviewed publications over 5 years, worked on 182 projects for 106 unique users over the past year and co-directed (with other Center Cores) a seminar program of 49 seminars over 5 years. Key scientific contributions include: identification of two new physical protein interaction mechanisms in glioblastomas using network data analysis techniques, investigation of aberrant signaling in receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) pathways by identifying genes with differential transcription dynamics in time course data using the Partition Decoupling Method, and use of concordance statistics to determine that MRI with enhanced reconstruction is superior to standard MRl as a measure of tumor necrotic fraction and viable tumor volume in animal studies of hepatocellular carcinoma. The Core aims to continue its collaboration with all Center programs and relevant shared resources, and broaden its development of statistical expertise through further education and recruitment.
Core expertise in study design and statistical methods is necessary for specification of testable research hypotheses and development of research plans for new cancer grant applications, application of existing and/or new statistical methods to the analysis of project data, development of cancer relevant new statistical methods, development and review of new investigator initiated protocols, and dissemination of statistical knowledge in various Cancer Center venues.
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