Collaborating with other university laboratories, public agencies, and industrial partners is an important aspect of the Center's research and educational missions. The BRC collaborates with various genomic research centers at NC State University, such as:

• Genome Research Laboratory, headed by Bryon Sosinski.
• Fungal Genomics Laboratory, headed by Ralph A. Dean.
• Center for the Biology of Nematode Parasitism, co-directed by David Bird and Charles Opperman.
• Forest Biotechnology Group, headed by Ron Sederoff.
• Center for Computational Biology, headed by William Atchley.

Collaborations range from short conversations with a BRC faculty member, to group discussions at 10 a.m. coffee, to development of a new theory or approach that often leads to a thesis project for a bioinformatics graduate student.

The Research Triangle area offers numerous opportunities for collaborative research. BRC faculty collaborate with scientists at various Triangle-area institutions, including universities, government agencies, and private companies. Many graduate students accept internships at these partner institutions for some or all of their program.

We welcome opportunities to meet with existing and potential industry partners to discuss options for collaborative research and student internships. Please direct inquiries to the BRC director, Dr. Zhao-Bang Zeng.

Current partnerships include:

• CIIT: Analysis of pharmacogenomic data
• Dorothea Dix Hospital: Statistical analysis of patient data
• Discovery Machines: Development of bioinformatics software
• Duke University Department of Anesthesiology: Detecting genetic associations with postoperative outcomes
• Duke University Center for Human Genetics: Human disease mapping
• GlaxoSmithKline: Detecting genetic associations with disease status and drug reaction
• NIEHS: Interpretation of microarray data
• Paradigm Genetics: Interpretation of genomic data
• Quintiles: Statistical analysis of genomic data
• SAS Institute: Development of statistical software for genomic data
• Watarah: Development of bioinformatics software

The Bioinformatics Research Center offers consultation on bioinformatics issues to members of the university community, as well as to the wider biotechnical community.

Assistance to the university community usually focuses on data analysis and software issues, such as:

• Data analysis methods
• Genomax® usage
• GCG® usage and administration
• Perl

From time to time, the BRC also offers short courses in Perl and HTML. Introductions to other programming topics could also be made available (e.g. C++, PHP, XML, JavaScript, relational databases, and SQL). The BRC welcomes suggestions for additional areas of assistance.

Please call the BRC at 515-2535 and you will be transferred to someone who can address your question.

Programming Services

The Bioinformatics Research Center's Programming Core offers assistance with bioinformatics programming issues to members of the university community. Services can range from consultation and advice on programming and technology issues to writing web pages and software to solve a bioinformatics-related problem.

Examples of current and completed projects are summarized here.

For more information please contact Dr. Dahlia Nielsen at dahlia@statgen.ncsu.edu (919) 515-2586 or Chris Smith at chris@statgen.ncsu.edu (919) 515-8384.

University members are also invited to bring interesting problems involving the computational and statistical analysis of genomic data to a BRC Morning Coffee Break. To do so, please contact Dr. Zhao-Bang Zeng at zeng@stat.ncsu.edu (919) 515-1942.

The BRC also offers consulting services to the wider biotechnical community in statistical methods for the analysis and interpretation of genomic and forensic data. Please contact Dr. Zhao-Bang at zeng@stat.ncsu.edu or (919) 515-1942 for more information.