Biomedical research is benefiting from the wealth of new data generated in the laboratory through new instrumentation, greater computational resources, and massive repositories of public domain data. Using these data to make scientific discoveries is sometimes straightforward, but can be complicated by the number and breadth of public sources available to the researcher as well as by the plethora of tools from which to choose. Complex searches, analyses, or even storage needs require more computational expertise than that available within an individual laboratory. As biomedical researchers develop more computational skills, this may change over time. Having a centralized group of experts in computational biology can be of great value to the experimental biologist, and, recognizing this, many organizations have invested in building a team of computational biologists, bioinformaticists, and research IT services to address the needs of the investigators. This Editorial presents our views on the benefits and challenges of centralizing these activities. In order to benefit from expertise among existing teams of experts around the world, the “Bioinfo-Core” group was formed during the ISMB 2002 meeting in Edmonton, Canada, with approximately 25 initial members. Since then, the group has expanded in both organization and interest. Our worldwide membership now includes more than 150 people who administer centralized bioinformatics and research computing facilities within diverse organizations, including academia, independent research institutes, academic medical centers, and industry. Additionally, the group holds quarterly meetings via teleconference, continues an annual face-to-face meeting at ISMB (averaging 40–60 people), and hosts a mailing list and Wiki (http://www.bioinfo-core.org) to further communication.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Lewitter et al. (2009) studied this question.