Bio: Data Integration - COPD

Biomedical investigators frequently use multiple high-throughput technologies to study their biological and disease system of interest. These technologies can be used to generate various types of 'omics profiles (transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, etc). Studying the profiles together allows investigators to explore interactions between molecules and functional mechanisms. In this working group, we will use data from COPDGene, one of the largest and well-phenotyped genetic epidemiology cohorts for studying lung disease to explore the statistical and computational challenges arising from the integration of different omic level data. Important biological problems that can be explored with the integration of omics data include predicting multivariate disease phenotypes, using omic data for sub-type identification, in depth exploration of GWAS results, identifying pathways associated with disease, statistical modeling of longitudinal –omics data, correlated –omics data from different specimens (lung versus blood), and integrated analysis of data from multiple consortia (e.g. Lung Genomics Research Consortium). Statistical tools to be explored include graphical models, and pathway and network analysis.

We have organized both the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and The Cancer Gene Atlas (TCGA) sub-groups to explore similar themes, but in different contexts, and we will come together to share ideas during the year. The Data Integration - COPD working group will spend the first several weeks to get group members familiar with the COPDGene project, the nature and information offered by each data type and goals of the overall study to benefit clinical research in COPD. We will also use the first month to collect and set up data access. The group will then identify biological problems to focus on and explore various statistical methods that can be applied/developed to address these problems. We expect each member will be actively participating through paper reviews, methodology developments and/or applications, collaborations, and reports.