The overall purpose of the Biological Informatics Core (BIC) is to provide bioinformatics and biostatistical support to projects 1 to 3. The core will leverage its major computational and human infrastructure at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS), to perform 1) Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydia caviae genomic based analyses, such as genome sequence assemblies, de novo annotation/remapping and genome sequences comparative analyses, 2) metagenomic analyses of metatranscriptomic data such as transcripts assemblies, functional annotation, comparative functional analyses, phylogenomic analyses of the transcripts, and community metabolic pathways reconstruction;3) model-based statistical analyses of community composition in relation to the metadata collected in each project;4) develop a web-based resource for the distribution, access, browsing, querying and analysis of the data generated by each of the three projects 1-3. The Biological Informatics Core will work in close collaboration with Dr. Abdo, at the University of Idaho who will be responsible for the statistical analysis, while Dr. White will lead the remaining activities at IGS. The team assembled for this project comprises of experienced bioinformaticists and scientists, who were at the onset of the genomic revolution while at the Institute for Genomic Research in the 1990s. Their high level of expertise and commitment to serve the research scientific community with open-access to data and software will be key in making sure that the data and findings of the projects the Biological Informatics Core will support will have maximum impact on the chlamydial and STI clinical and research community.
Chlamydial infection are a major health risk to young sexually active women and can results in serious conditions such as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) a cause of infertility in women. Studies on Chlamydial Infections have focused on the pathogen itself. It is becoming increasingly evident that the microbes that inhabit the vagina play a critical protective role. We will examine how the vaginal microbiota reacts to Chlamydial infections and treatments in order to provide a new view of the infectious.
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