The Harvard School of Public Health is taking a leading role in interdisciplinary research involving the computational analysis of complex relationships between genes and their environment as well as basic biological and quantitative sciences. The HSPH Bioinformatics Core (HBC) aims to establish HSPH and its researchers as competitive leaders in the application of new technologies and methods to the study of Public Health.

The HBC, led by Scientific Director Dr Winston Hide and overseen by Associate Director Dr Oliver Hofmann is integral to the Program for Quantitative Genomics. It provides a single point of contact for computational biology, applying genomic approaches together with established and developing Public Health methodologies, including basic biology, epidemiology, environmental health, biostatistics and bioinformatics to develop novel approaches to improve human health. The Core allows HSPH to exploit data-driven research, improving grant funding opportunities which are increasingly computational. By providing access to bioinformatics expertise for researchers at HSPH, the HBC opens new areas of research, enhances the quality and consistency of high-throughput data analysis and improves the School's ability to support research in this “mission-critical” area.

The Core aids researchers at the School with the management, integration and contextual analysis of biological high-throughput data. It provides consulting, training, tools, databases and best practices. It fosters collaboration and a community of bioinformatics activities, and build a unified infrastructure supporting a diverse set of experimental systems and high-throughput biological data.

Please contact us for any questions, help requests or feedback. The Core Strategy Document (pdf) has additional information and details as well.