#BlackInCompBio Workshop Series: OncoMX (presented by Amanda Bell et al)

OncoMX is a knowledge base of cancer biomarkers that enables searches of unified cancer mutation and expression datasets. This is a collaborative project between The George Washington University, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, and the University of Delaware. The objective is to benefit basic cancer research, promote efficient consumption of information by end-users, and ultimately improve biomarker and cancer detection capabilities. The unification of multiple cancer datasets allows users to explore or generate hypotheses within one database, execute targeted searches, and compare data sources. OncoMX is designed to support a broad range of cancer research initiatives for the enrichment of cancer biomarker detection.

This talk will also showcase the OncoMX data model applied to biomarkers for COVID-19

Amanda Bell

Amanda Bell is a research associate in the HIVE-Lab under the direction of Raja Mazumder. She is the current lead on the OncoMX project a cancer biomarker database with disease mutation and expression metadata. Her expertise is in data analysis using various big data tools. She began her bioinformatics career by working on a project which integrated glycomics tools to modify and identify glycopeptides while also working on a high-throughput sequencing project to standardize computational workflows for regulatory sciences now known as the IEEE standard BioCompute. BioCompute is now an IEEE-approved standard recommended for regulatory submissions. Amanda aspires to pursue her doctorate in developing tools to support scientists in their research.

Nikhita Gogate

Nikhita Gogate completed her Bachelor of Science in 2012 from the University of Pune, India, and went on to complete her Master’s degree in Biomedical Genetics from Vellore Institute of Technology, India, in 2014. She has more than five years of experience in clinical molecular diagnostics and high-throughput sequencing. Realization of a need to better understand the analytical techniques for myriad biological queries led her to her current position as a graduate student studying Bioinformatics at the George Washington University, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine. She has been working on cancer biomarkers and curating FDA approved cancer biomarkers through the OncoMX project. She is now applying the OncoMX biomarker data model to capture biomarkers for COVID-19.