Informatics
Informatics Hub: Advancing our understanding of brain development by harmonizing data across different species, studies, and modalities
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Our Expertise
We are experts in aggregation, integration, and dissemination of basic, applied, clinical, and pre-clinical science data for MIDB stakeholders and collaborators.
Embedded directly in UMN’s Research Computing unit, which houses the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute and UMN Informatics Institute, we work closely with the Analytics core and other UMN specialists to facilitate research and training.
Our Leadership
Thomas Pengo, PhD, Co-Director of Research Informatics, Minnesota Supercomputing Institute
Jeff Shi, PhD, Informatics Manager, Scientific Computing Consultant, Minnesota Supercomputing Institute
Timothy Hendrickson, Neuroimaging Informatics Manager, Minnesota Supercomputing Institute
How We Engage
Our Team
Monalisa Bilas, MIS
Research Consultant
Kimberleigh Breen, BA
Data Manager
Jesus Garcia
Linux Systems DevOps Engineer
Yolanda Gondwe, MPH
Research Project Manager
Timothy Hendrickson, MS
Neuroimaging Informatics Manager
Chris Hertel
Senior Manager for Advanced Computing Projects
Naomi Hospodarsky, MSc
Research Security and Compliance Analyst
Erik Lee, MS
Neuroimaging Analyst
Maren Macgregor-Hannah
Senior Research Project Manager
Thomas Pengo, PhD
Director of Applications and Services, U of M Informatics
Borgne Raasch
Data Steward
Jeff Shi, PhD
Informatics Manager, Scientific Computing Consultant
Anders Skaar
Linux Systems DevOps Engineer
Examples of Our Engagement
EPINET
The Informatics Core worked with the EPINET team to outline a data workflow for the project and generate reports. We also worked with the EPINET team to deliver data exports to the EPINET National Data Coordinating Center. Learn more about EPINET.
Dysfunctional State Representations in Psychosis
The Informatics Core provided assistance by formatting data, developing data dictionaries, and setting up storage locations to facilitate the primary workflows. We have also initiated creation of more advanced repositories for future use. This project is widely distributed across several teams and multiple species. Learn more about the project here.
Brain Wide Association Studies (BWAS)
The Informatics Core performed an analysis on the entire UK BioBank data set to address the reproducibility of Brain-wide Association Studies (BWAS). This effort involved a tightly coordinated effort to manage data and computation involving 300 core-years of computation within a month (3600x speed-up) to complete this effort.
Project Management (LORIS)
The Informatics Core developed infrastructure for deploying LORIS, a database with a web front-end for managing multi-modal brain research data. We have deployed a proof-of-concept instance, uploaded the dataset from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, establishing proof-of-concept configuration and remote analysis, and presenting to leadership at National Institutes of Health.