BIOINFORMATICS
FACILITY ACTIVITIES
The Facility activities
are broadly related to problem specification, study design, data collection and
quality control, data processing, statistical modeling and analysis, and interpretation of statistical
results. The following describes more
fully the individual components of the Facility support services.
Problem
Specification:
The Bioinformatics staff
is experienced in consulting with investigators to help identify the research
parameters and goals. Below is a sample of the services provided:
§
Formulate statistical and mathematical models for
genetic, epidemiologic and other biomedical phenomena under study
§
Specify the hypotheses to be tested and parameters
to be estimated
§
Review and interpret past experiments and literature
reports
§
Conduct meta-analyses when literature based reviews require quantitative summarization
Study Design and Methodology:
§
Assist investigators in the preparation of grant and
contract proposals
§
Determine the population to be studied and the
necessary background information to be gathered
§
Specify the dependent and independent variables to
be measured
§
Identify nuisance variables and methods to control
for them statistically
§
Choose appropriate study designs (longitudinal,
cross-sectional, case-control, cross-over, balanced incomplete
blocks, population based and family based genetic studies, affected sib pairs
with simplex or multiplex ascertainment, DNA microarray designs, etc.)
§
Calculate sample sizes required to achieve
sufficient statistical power for testing hypotheses
§
Specify methods of assigning experimental units
(i.e. patients, animals, lab techs.) to treatments including Ablinding@ of participants where appropriate
§
Develop a protocol and manual of operations to
minimize errors in data collection and avoid operational changes which might
compromise the interpretation of study results
Data Collection and
Monitoring:
Project Start-Up
§
Advise and/or train the investigator’s data
collection staff
§
Carry out pilot trials in order to test or refine
questionnaire phrasing and response categories, and detect unanticipated
problems
§
Conduct focus groups to obtain preliminary data
§
Assist in setting-up uniformity trials to test
methodology
Data Collection
§
Design, develop and implement procedures
for computer scanned data forms as well as web-based data collection
§
Administer mail, telephone, and/or
personal interview surveys of defined populations
§
Customize computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) system for
telephone surveys
§
Develop
customized programs for the Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) system
and test them prior to delivery
§
Subject registration and randomization
(stratified
block allocation, Simon and Pocock’s minimization, and Raghavarao’s distance
function)
§
Provide technical support for the
development of contract specifications for external vendors and data collection
oversight of larger scale data collection efforts
Project Monitoring
§
Institute quality control audits to ensure the
accuracy of data
§
Review proposed protocol changes to consider
possible effects on subsequent analysis and interpretation of study results
§
Participate in Data Safety Monitoring Committees and generate periodic
progress reports
Data Entry
§
Code and enter data using double entry with
verification
§
Create and archive data files for analysis
§
Design and implement database systems using MS
Access for both local and remote data entry
Data Processing and Software
Development:
§
Create code books describing data file format
§
Summarize original data for preliminary analysis and
development of additional hypotheses of potential interest
§
Produce histograms, scatter plots, and other
graphical displays where appropriate
§
Prepare data files for use with a variety of
specialized software programs (e.g. conversion between various file formats,
determina-tion of affected family based controls (AFBACs), transmitted and
non-transmitted alleles, etc.)
§
Develop, test and implement specialized software
programs for data acquisition, processing, statistical modeling, and simulation
studies
§
Investigate new biostatistical software packages
that may enhance the analysis of a given study
Statistical Analysis:
§
Perform analysis using commercial
statistical software such as BMDP, SAS, SPSS, SPLUS, SUDAAN, PC-NonLin, EQS,
AMOS, EGRET, HLM, SOLAS, NQUERY, GENEHUNTER, SAGE, LINKAGE, and CART, as well
as special-purpose statistical programs developed by the Bioinformatics
Facility
§
Develop hypothesis-based models
§
Refine model formulations and
investigate alternative models
§
Perform computer intensive analyses and
simulations to assess model robustness
Statistical Interpretation:
§
Prepare and present written reports summarizing the
results of analyses including tables, charts, and graphs
§ Assisting in the preparation of manuscripts, reports, and presentation materials
Last modified August 09 2004 10:17 AM