RCMI Integrated Informatics Core

People:

Member: Abiel Roche-Lima

Resources:

Services

• Bioinformatics ( Service )
  

  The Bioinformatics unit aims to develop the first Bioinformatics support service in the institution. The range of approaches available include data analytics for genomics and proteomics microarray analysis; DNAseq and RNAseq analysis; metagenomic analysis; SNP analysis; genome assembly and annotation; pathway and network enrichment analysis, and phylogeny analysis.

• Health Informatics ( Service )
  

  The Health Informatics unit uses the REDCap software, an NIH-supported web application, for building and managing online surveys and research databases. IIS currently supports 15 REDCap datasets, with 147 users. The staff also provides programming and other data management services such as database pre-processing of biomedical data for further analysis, analysis, design and implementation of databases and software development.

• Operational Informatics ( Service )
  

  The Operational Informatics unit supports research activities and operations of the CCRHD cores and administration, including installation/updating/upgrading of server software and operating systems; database management; management of client accounts and privileges; server monitoring, and user support. They also provide first-line technical support for computer-operated instrumentation, cloud-based storage systems, software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, and computer networks. Technical staff manages the RCMI Administrative server and the Center-wide electronic ticket system. They also manage the RCMI YouTube Channel, Google Groups account, and Twitter account. The IIS maintains and expands this portfolio of research support, operational support and social media services as required by CCRHD Projects, Pilot Projects and other Cores.

Software

• Chimera ( Software )
  

  Is a highly extensible program for interactive visualization and analysis of molecular structures and related data, including density maps, supramolecular assemblies, sequence alignments, docking results, trajectories, and conformational ensembles. Chimera is developed by the Resource for Biocomputing, Visualization, and Informatics (RBVI), funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIGMS P41-GM103311). We use this software for services related to structure model interpretation, visualization and structure prediction.

• Limma – R BioConductor ( Algorithmic software component )
  

• RFMix ( Software )
  

  Is a powerful discriminative modeling approach that is faster (~30×) and more accurate than existing methods. RFMix is capable of learning from the admixed samples themselves to boost performance and autocorrect phasing errors. RFMix shows high sensitivity and specificity in simulated Hispanics/Latinos and African Americans and admixed Europeans, Africans, and Asians. The software is utilized for ancestry inference services.