UIC Research Informatics Core supports biological storytelling
Biologists today are collecting more data than ever before using advanced sequencing technologies. To truly understand biological processes and develop innovative solutions to health challenges, they need to be able to store and analyze that data.
UIC’s Research Informatics Core (RIC) specializes in bioinformatics, which combines biology, computer science and mathematics to analyze data and drive scientific discoveries. The core provides support to researchers in analyzing large, high-throughput data sets and offers statistical analysis, data visualization and machine learning applications.
“We work with people to get a biological story from a data set.” said Mark Maienschein-Cline, director of the Research Informatics Core. “It comes down to both the statistical analysis that we measure and putting that in a larger biological context, trying to understand how systems are affected and how that leads to an interpretation of the data.”
UIC’s Research Informatics Core supports a wide range of research projects. Researchers have access to a variety of bioinformatics services through a team of six bioinformaticians with a range of expertise on site, each prepared to provide in-depth guidance on everything from shotgun metagenomics to RNA sequencing to chromosome conformation capture technologies.
“It’s not possible to do the kind of science we’re doing without this core,” said Subhash Pandey, a Joseph A. Flaherty, MD endowed professor of psychiatry at UIC and director of the Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics. “Without these kinds of tools and expertise, we will not make progress. It’s a vital element of the scientific growth within UIC.”
In most cases, RIC services start before the research even begins, when the core staff meet with the researcher to establish project goals and align on what they are trying to measure. This ensures researchers conduct experiments to collect the data they actually need, saving time and money while improving efficiency. Whether researchers need assistance in one area of their data analysis, or they require guidance on each step, the RIC team is prepared to assist.
“There are a lot of investigators that know that for their research to be cutting-edge, they need to incorporate these type of data, yet they don't fully understand how to do that,” said George Chlipala, associate director for the core. “They come to us to provide expertise on how to analyze it.”
“If you want to meet, you always find yourself on Zoom with Mark to talk and get input,” said Donald Vander Griend, an associate professor at UIC and associate director of shared resources at the University of Illinois Cancer Center. “He's one of those people that you never have to email twice.”
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The core staff also provide annual training in bioinformatics skills for anyone interested in learning more. This gives researchers the opportunity to build their own knowledge base and familiarize themselves with the equipment offered at UIC.
“Everyone in my lab now has a strong background of bioinformatics and training, and many of them have gone on to career paths that involve a lot of informatics as a result,” said Vander Griend, who has all his laboratory staff attend the RIC training.
The services provided by the RIC complement those of other research cores on campus – including the Genomics Research Core, Mass Spectrometry Core, Research Histology Core, Flow Cytometry Core and the new Single Cell Sequencing Core for applications of genomics technologies – that offer data collection equipment and assistance. Researchers can take their newly created datasets to the RIC, where they are converted into digestible formats and analyzed to promote biological interpretation. This process supports researchers throughout their project timelines, from data collection to analysis to visualization.
“We not only are utilizing the bioinformatics core but also the genomic facility of the Research Resources Center,” said Pandey. “I think the pipeline is very important in driving high quality science at UIC.”
This network of shared research resources at UIC is subsidized in part by Facilities & Administration funds.
RIC services are available to UIC, Rush and CBC researchers at a discounted rate, as well as to researchers from other institutions at an external rate, which is determined using subsidy and market rates. Those interested in utilizing their services and setting up a consultation can visit their website or contact them at resinfocore@uic.edu.