Bioinformatics Unit

Justification

Bioinformatics and its application in data processing and analysis have become an indispensable pillar not only of basic research focused on processing large volumes of biological data, but also a tool to support decision-making in research and translational medicine. For almost two decades, molecular biology and bioinformatics have found a means of development and expansion in the healthcare sector as tools for the diagnosis and prognosis of numerous diseases with a genetic component, the stratification of patients according to their genetic background, disease monitoring and the potential identification of therapeutic targets in the context of personalised medicine.

Against this background, the Bioinformatics Unit’s Research Support Service (SAI) was established with the mission of providing support for the design and analysis of genomic data from funded projects of research groups both within and outside the Gregorio Marañón Health Research Institute (IiSGM). Finally, it should be noted that the Bioinformatics Unit operates under ISO 9001:2015 certification.

Description of the facilities

The main core of the Bioinformatics Unit is located on the Ground Floor of the Experimental Medicine and Surgery Building of the IiSGM. For studies requiring a high computational load—such as Next Generation Sequencing tasks or advanced statistical modelling—the Unit has an HP Proliant DL380 G9 server, a DELL Precision 5820 workstation and two NAS servers, as well as desktop computers and the necessary network infrastructure; acquired by the IiSGM, the Genomics SAI and the Haematology Department of the Gregorio Marañón General University Hospital (HGUGM).

The Bioinformatics Unit has the aforementioned equipment in two locations: the desktop computers and the workstation are in the Experimental Medicine and Surgery Building; and the computing server and the two NAS units are in the HGUGM Data Processing Centre.

The Bioinformatics Unit works in coordination and collaborates with the Genomics SAI, with data processing tasks from the different Illumina sequencing platforms being frequent.

Project Portfolio

Procedure for requesting services

The procedure followed in the provision of the service is as follows:

1. Need to use the SAI.
2. Contact the Bioinformatics SAI: in person, via the SAI's email address or by telephone (+34) 915 290 724.
3. Work request: the request is available upon request from the Bioinformatics SAI or on the website of the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón in the section dedicated to the aforementioned SAI.       Once completed, it is sent to the person responsible for the SAI via the SAI's email address.
4. Meeting with the person responsible for the SAI: during the meeting, the deadlines for delivering the results and the work to be carried out will be agreed, as well as the format in which the researcher will provide the input information for conducting the analyses and the format for delivering the results.
5. Agree on the work to be carried out. If, during the analysis, the client wishes to add new objectives or changes the study hypothesis, this new scenario may be considered a service distinct from the original one.
6. Provision of input information in the agreed format.
7. Carrying out the work while attempting to meet the deadlines required by the client.
8. Delivery of the work in the agreed format.
9. Recording the work: Once the analyses have been completed, the person responsible for the SAI will record the service provided, indicating the hours worked, researcher, project to which the (self-)invoice should be charged, date on which the request was received, and start and end dates of the work.
10. Invoicing for the work: the work is invoiced by the Fundación para la Investigación Biomédica del Hospital Gregorio Marañón (FIBHGM). In the case of internal researchers from the IiSGM, the invoices are treated as self-invoices, in accordance with the procedures of the Fundación and using the IiSGM internal engagement form. In the case of clients external to the IiSGM, the IiSGM external engagement form must be completed.

IMPORTANT: The form provided by the SAI staff must be used: Service Request Form - IM-BNF-01.

The Service Request Form – IM-BNF-01 consists of 6 parts:

1. SAI identification
2. Applicant identification*
3. Details of the service required**
4. Service modifications, if applicable
5. Form of collaboration and payment: Indicate whether it is a self-invoice or not***
6. Signatures of the service applicant and the person responsible for the SAI, together with the date and the status of approval of the request

* Identification of the applicant, including their name, professional email address, telephone number and organisation to which they belong. If a service charge is to be assigned to a new user, the applicant must complete and attach the signed billing details form   with the first engagement form.

**Details of the services provided:

• High Throughput and Omics
• Methodology and data analysis
• Scientific communications
• RedCAP
• Training
• Use of bioinformatics resources

Where the analysis is intended to validate a hypothesis, the hypothesis must be clearly formulated, with a brief description of the project and the results sought.

The format of the data to be analysed and the format for delivering the results must be specified, together with the estimated delivery date.

***form of collaboration:

• Monetary remuneration: indicate the budgeted amount. The self-invoicing procedure will be applied through document PR-SPE-06 or external invoicing through the corresponding document PR-SPE-07.
• Scientific collaboration: indicate the type of collaboration and the project (together with its identifier) in which it is included. For collaborations with entities external to the IiSGM, complete the relevant collaboration establishment documentation in each case.
• Other: specification is mandatory.

IMPORTANT: the expenditure must have been approved by the funding agency, either because it was included in the budget of the initial application (the ideal situation), or because the expenditure was subsequently approved following a formal written request.

Bioinformatics SAI Rates

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