Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

The use of high-throughput sequencing technologies, such as those used to sequence DNA or RNA, is rapidly increasing the amount of data generated in human and health research projects, especially in cancer research. This amount of data requires bioinformatics skills to handle and analyze. Cancer researchers recognize that bioinformatics skills are fundamental to the success of their projects given the complexity of the cancer genome. Acquiring the level of advanced bioinformatics skills specific to the uniqueness of the cancer genome is challenging as comprehensive training programs are scarce and the field is rapidly advancing. The Canadian Bioinformatics Workshops (CBW) proposal herein seeks to disseminate its leading edge bioinformatics knowledge and skill to cancer researchers through a cancer-specific workshop. Specifically, the proposal seeks to support trainee attendance at this critical workshop. The flagship Bioinformatics for Cancer Genomics workshop is an intensive 5-day, hands-on workshop designed to guide researchers through the key bioinformatics concepts and tools required to analyze cancer genomic data sets. Participants gain experience in genomic data visualization tools, which are applied throughout the development of the skills required to analyze cancer -omic data for gene expression, genome rearrangement, somatic mutations, and copy number alterations. Strategies for pathway analysis and functional evaluation on the resultant cancer variant list and integration of clinical data are also provided. By providing a comprehensive program in cancer-specific bioinformatics tools, the workshop has been shown to enhance the informatic skill set of the cancer research community in Canada, thereby enabling translational cancer research and personalized cancer therapy discoveries.