Computing for Cancer Informatics

Course Overview

One of the key cancer informatics challenges is dealing with and managing the explosion of large data from multiple sources that are often too large to work with on typical personal computers. This course is designed to help researchers and investigators to understand the basics of computing and to familiarize them with various computing options to ultimately help guide their decisions on the topic. This course aims to provide research leaders with awareness and guidance about: Basic computing terminology Concepts about how computers and computing systems work Differences between shared computing resources Appropriate etiquette for shared computing resources Computing resources designed for cancer research Considerations for computing resource decisions Target audience: This course is intended for researchers (including postdocs and students) with limited to intermediate experience with informatics research. The conceptual material will also be useful for those in management roles who are collecting data and using informatics pipelines. Curriculum: We will provide you with familiarity with fundamental computing terms. We will also discuss relevant concepts about how computers and shared computing resources work. We will explore the differences between various computing resource options, as well as provide guidance on how to make important computing discussions. This course is part of a series of courses for the Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR) called the Informatics Technology for Cancer Research Education Resource. This material was created by the ITCR Training Network (ITN) which is a collaborative effort of researchers around the United States to support cancer informatics and data science training through resources, technology, and events. This initiative is funded by the following grant: National Cancer Institute (NCI) UE5 CA254170. Our courses feature tools developed by ITCR Investigators and make it easier for principal investigators, scientists, and analysts to integrate cancer informatics into their workflows. Please see our website at www.itcrtraining.org for more information.