Quantitative Sciences Core

The Quantitative Sciences Core (QSC) of the Ponce Health Sciences University-Moffitt Cancer Center (PHSUMCC) Partnership provides resources and expertise for generating, managing, and analyzing big data. It is the focal point for expertise in quantitative approaches to address the cancer characteristics of people in our catchment area by enhancing our participation in “omics” studies and incorporating genetic variability analysis in Partnership research approaches. By joining PHSU's expertise in genetic variability with the MCC bioinformatics team, the QSC combines a unique set of skills required to address the molecular components of cancer differences in genetically admixed populations. The QSC provides expertise in bioinformatics, biostatistics, and informatics, and participates in every phase of the research life cycle. The QSC supports data provisioning, study design, analysis plans, and power estimates to demonstrate the feasibility and improve rigor and reproducibility in all Partnership research projects and grant submissions. In addition, the QSC contributes to the dissemination of high-throughput molecular data by developing web-based visualization tools. As a central resource for research projects, the QSC also facilitates collaboration, thereby leveraging the data gathered by the Partnership investigators. The QSC analyzed the first catchment area genomic data generated in collaboration with the Puerto Rico BioBank (PRBB)/Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN) Avatar and implemented a unique Partnership resource of cBioportal (GLOBAL), a web-based resource. The QSC develops tools for visualizing and interpreting data, pipelines to estimate genetic variability, and has built expertise in genomics bioinformatics at PHSU, including hiring, training, and the acquisition of computing and storage infrastructure. The Specific Aims of the QSC will be: 1) Provide research project support for biostatistics and bioinformatics from study design, endpoint definition, sample size estimation, power calculation, and data analysis. Regular interactions between lead data scientists and project members will allow for the continuing development of novel analytic tools to address emerging questions aligned with the Partnership’s needs. 2) Provide data integration and management services for Partnership projects and cores. Projects needing tissue/data collection systems will leverage the existing software infrastructure from PRBB Biospecimen Management System (BMS). The QSC/PRBB Data Concierge provisions data and linkages from these systems. Other supported services include the Partnership Bioportal, the Estimated Cell Line Ancestry (ECLA) tool, and the Partnership Continuous Quality Improvement System for the Planning & Evaluation Core. 3) Provide quantitative sciences expertise in support of the Partnership. The QSC aims to develop expertise in statistics at PHSU; characterize publicly available molecular signatures in Partnership cohorts; develop analytics for PRBB optimization of consent and participant communications; expand the omics experience for students (collaboration with the Research Education Core), and enhance the use of genetic variability in quantitative studies.