Bioinformatics Core Facility

The Bioinformatics Core Facility (BiCF) provides state-of-the-art bioinformatics expertise for the design, analysis, and interpretation of genomics, proteomics, and other high-resolution, high-throughput studies to better understand cancer biology and translate cancer -omics discoveries to cancer treatment for University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCCCC) investigators. The objective of the BiCF is to streamline access to analytic support, maintain a high standard for data collection and management, design and perform rigorous analytical strategies, and foster a collaborative and supportive research community. BiCF provides expert bioinformatics support and services to carry out basic, translational, clinical, and population science research, ensuring efficiency and high-quality analytic results. In the reporting period, BiCF supported 39 unique UCCCC members (49% MMC, 8% CPC, 21% IC, 23% CET), supporting their scientific needs and meeting the strategic objectives. During the funding period BiCF supported 11 cancer-related federal grants, and 81 cancer relevant peer reviewed publications (51% in journals with impact factor ≥ 10). Future efforts towards this end include: (i) expanding and creating new pipelines to apply to other emerging genomics data including but not limited to single cell RNA-seq analysis, single-cell mass cytometry and proteomics; (ii) developing novel bioinformatics tools to handle increasingly complex, high-volume datasets; (iii) collaborating with Genomics Core Facility (GCF) on a joint quarterly educational program for UCCCC investigators on understanding and using data science to strengthen their research; (iv) services for customized analysis beyond available standard pipelines on an as-needed basis. Overall, BiCF is dedicated to pursuing a bold vision in the next funding period to facilitate cancer research and provide cutting edge services that accelerate scientific progress.