Junhai Guo, a PhD student in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, assists the UC SBRP scientists with microarry data interpretation

Biostatistics provides an interface between abstract statistical theory and the different areas of biomedical sciences. Interpretation of much of the research in these fields depend to some extent on statistical methods. The goal of Biostatistics Core is to provide comprehensive statistical services to research projects for SBRP projects. The specific aims include providing general statistical support for research projects, like designing experimental methodologies based on statistical principles in experimental design; analyzing and interpreting experimental data by developing appropriate statistical tools and fitting various statistical models. Statistical software has been used are SAS, S-plus, and R. General linear model was used to assess DNA damage in the ‘Comet’ assay. Currently, I’m working on project proposals of choosing various methods to modify potential overdispersion in an in vivo positive selection-based assay to detect genetic instability during mammary tumor progression and using a mixture model based cluster analysis for gene expression data.