The goal of the Informatics Core is based on bioinformatics as defined by NIH as research, development, or application of computational tools and approaches for expanding the use of biological, medical, behavioral or health data, including those to acquire, store, organize, archive, analyze, or visualize such data. The Informatics Core Facility provides the following services to Center members: Data Modeling for Organization of Data - development and use of a structured, cancer based data model that captures and relates events in any cancer patient's medical history as it unfolds from a first time diagnosis through a series of tests, test results, and linked therapies and experimental results. Database Design and Implementation for Storage of Data - modular design of databases for users based on the generalized data model for cancer research. User Interfaces for Visualization of Data - design and implementation of web interfaces to data repositories to accommodate reports and data downloads, as they would be requested by users ranging from clinical investigators to computer scientists. Parallel Computation - expertise in development and adaptation of algorithms for parallel computation using any of several Beowolf style supercomputers. Data Mining and Pattern Analysis - expertise in machine learning and genetic algorithms that can be used to analyze high dimensional data where the number of measured values far exceeds the number of samples and reduce it to a set of features and hypothesized relationships that are amenable to subsequent rigorous testing by the Biostatistics Core. Annotation - clinical annotation of human tissues, and structural and functional annotation of molecular profiles. Integration with CaBIG - integration of CaBIG tools both in official role as Integrative Cancer Workspace adopter and as a leader in the development of data standards and structured tools for cancer informatics. Dr. Mary E. Edgerton is responsible for the scientific operations of the Informatics Core. She is aided by a staff of bioinformatician faculty and staff scientists, a software specialist, an expanding group of software developers, a systems administrator, and a resource manager. In addition to directly supporting the research community, the Informatics Core has close collaborative interactions with the Tissue, Microarray, Proteomics, Analytic Microscopy, HTS &Chemistry Core and Biostatistics Core.
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