Office for Research and Graduate Studies (ORAGS)

Bioinformatics Core Facility

Scientific Objectives: 

To provide a resource to researchers within the UMB community that automates the research process with state of the art software, hardware, and integration of information processing. To provide consultation and software development that accommodates recent developments in research with an expertise in Genomics.  To provide expert accurate data acquisition, data management, and customized computing support for research projects in a cost-effective manner.  The Bioinformatics Core (BC) is successful if we are enabling researchers to improve their chances of getting funded in grant applications and to streamline the data collection and data management for funded research projects enabling seamless data analysis and results reporting for generating scientific publications.

Personnel:

Mark Pohl. Mark Pohl is a genomic bioinformatics specialist who has extensive experience leading a software research and development team in private industry in addition to providing these services on campus for the past two years.  Mr. Pohl has been an integral part of the continued development and refinement of the IRIS software application and other database management tools available through the BC.

Teresa Yates.  Teresa Yates came to the BC team with extensive research knowledge and experience.  She also has particular expertise with program development.  With respect to the research data acquisition activities, Ms. Yates has developed systematic procedures for form design and data capture using Teleform software.  She has also used her managerial and program development skills to develop and implement administrative and business practices for the BC. 

Kristin Frey.  Kristin Frey has both informatics and research experience and expertise. She has worked eight years in biomedical research and is generally assigned duties that require interaction with researchers and their staff.  She serves as a software analyst, tester and sometime developer within the Core.

Tamar Pair.  Tamar Pair not only creates the majority of Teleforms in all formats, she also is versed enough in all of the BC’s services to operate the BC help desk. Ms. Pair also has more than five years experience in applied research.

Lijun Shao.  Lijun Shao has extensive experience in database development for research projects.  He has been a key developer for the IRIS system and maintains the database for the IRIS and Teleform systems.

Mark Waring. Mark Waring has been with the University for sixteen years and has worked on numerous software projects using his skills in both Oracle and Access development tools.  He has been a key asset to the Maryland Stroke Center for developing most of their software to enable the conduct of the studies funded by grants awarded to that center.

The BC has a policy that we will consider working with any investigator who needs our services. All work we do is on either a fee for service basis or as a percentage of an FTE on grant applications.  We provide initial free consultation to investigators who are interested in automating their research.  Once we have a verbal agreement to work together, we create a written agreement that defines the work to be done and what the customer can expect with respect to included or excluded services. The customer and management of the BC authorize this statement of work.

Contact Information:

Mark Pohl, 6-2060, Howard Hall, Room 124

Faculty Advisory Committee:

Mark Pohl, Director of Bioinformatics Core
Braxton Mitchell, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine
James Campbell, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Deborah Medoff, PhD, Assistant Professor, Director of Biostatistics
The Division of Services Research, Department of Psychiatry

Equipment:

Sun Microsystems
E450 Server
GB disk space
Oracle 9.2

Three Dell Servers 
Dell PowerEdge 6650 --- main web server
Xeon 2.0 Ghz processor
2 GB RAM
33 GB of disk space

Dell PowerEdge 6400  --- Teleform server
Dual processor x86 Family 6 step 7
2 GB RAM
100 GB disk

Dell Server P4600  --- auxiliary web and fax server
Xeon 3.0 Ghz processor
130 GB disk space

Software Assets:

Teleform 9.0 Enterprise and Elite version
IRIS: A Protocol data and schedule management software developed by the Core
Websites developed for performing studies and collecting data.
Websites for study participant recruitment.
Source code for automating BLAST analysis

Our computing systems are available 24 hours per day with trouble-shooting and additions to programs during normal working hours.

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