Informatics, bioinformatics and ‘big data’
Advice on research activities
‘Bioinformatics’ is a relatively new interdisciplinary field focusing on interpretation of complex biological data. Studies using bioinformatics will therefore be usually coded in:
- 1 Underpinning for fundamental biology – particularly 1.1 Biological and 1.4 Methodology
- 2 Aetiology if assessing disease cause, risk or development – particularly 2.1 Endogenous risks and 2.5 Design
Evidence obtained via bioinformatics research may also lead to biomarkers for diagnostic applications (4 Detection and Diagnosis), and development of new therapeutics (5 Treatment Development). However these are often potential future applications and not the main objective of the current research.
The wider topic of ‘Informatics’ – the science of processing, interpretation and storing of vast quantities of data – can often refer to significant resources with wide-reaching applications in health research. As such the guidance for Resources and Infrastructure should be followed when awards support the creation of ‘big data’ repositories. However, the onward use of informatics data should be treated as any other database or resource used in research, with awards coded based on the main research objective.
Main inclusion criteria
Development of aetiological and epidemiological research designs, measures and methodologies including
- methodological innovation and modelling complex epidemiological data
- development and evaluation of novel research designs
- development of epidemiological research measurements including outcome measures
- development of analytical and statistical methods to understand disease cause, susceptibility and risk including genetic linkage and association studies
Advice on research activities
Is primarily used for epidemiology methodological development and informatics studies of genetic linkages associated with diseases.
Excludes development of novel methodologies and research designs and measurements in treatment, management and health services research which is 8.4 Research design.
Official terminology
|
Full name of code |
Short name | Unique ID |
| 2.5 Research design and methodologies (aetiology) | 2.5 Design |
HRCS_RA_2_5 |
Related external links
Common Scientific Outline (CSO) – 1.5 Resources and Infrastructure
Common Scientific Outline (CSO) – 2.4 Resources and Infrastructure Related to Aetiology
Main inclusion criteria
Development of novel underpinning research measures and analytical methodologies including
- development of statistical methods and algorithms for genomic analysis
- development of mapping methodologies and novel data comparison methods
- development of biological, psychological and socioeconomic research measures
Advice on research activities
Methodologies and measurements linked to normal functions. This code may include algorithms for informatics research.
Includes the development and publication on the web of these tools as an outcome of a research project – this is not considered a resource for the community and shouldn’t be coded as 1.5 Underpinning resources.
Official terminology
|
Full name of code |
Short name | Unique ID |
| 1.4 Methodologies and measurements | 1.4 Methods |
HRCS_RA_1_4 |
Related external links
Common Scientific Outline (CSO) – 1.5 Resources and Infrastructure