Massively parallel sequencing of DNA has led to both the fast growth of translational research, which represents a great opportunity for patient care, and the integration of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology into our working groups.

Computational Biology in IFO Regina Elena and San Gallicano was set in 2009 with the acquisition of one of the first massively parallel sequencers in Italy, Illumina Genome Analyzer. The analytic framework was based on a joint venture between Regina Elena, University of Bari and the Consortium for University of Rome Supercomputing, CASPUR, also within the “Epigenomics Flagship Project EPIGEN” of CNR.

Starting from first applications of whole-genome epigenetic analysis (RNA-seq and ChIP-seq) in scientific research, NGS Genomic has subsequently expanded its field to preclinical and clinical applications on patients (Targeted Sequencing and Whole Exome Sequencing) as well as to the research of biomarkers of immunotherapy response (Immuno-Informatics).

From 2018 to 2020, the interdepartmental group of Bioinformatics/Bio.Comp. has increased from 4 to 13 units thanks to the support of Scientific Directors and of several Research Units.

Furthermore, the group works by maintaining a common technological platform to share knowledge on protocols, standards, and innovation, thus representing, to date, one of the largest bioinformatics groups between public Italian IRCCS (Research Hospitals).

The applied computational technologies range from local virtualization to complex combinations of workflows in High Performance Computing (Docker+Nextflow) systems, running on local and cloud in agreement with Institutional Supercomputing Facilities such as GARR and INFN.

The group provides internships, thesis projects and training to students belonging to different degree programs, particularly Biomedical Engineering (Sapienza), Bioinformatics (Tor Vergata), Data Science (Sapienza). In addition, from 2018 to 2020 the group has set up the course “Bioinformatics 2” for the bachelor’s degree of Bioinformatics (Sapienza).

Lastly, it acts as one of the analytics hubs of Alliance Against Cancer for Immunotherapy, Bioinformatics, Genomic and Oncohematology groups. For further information about research projects and internships, please write to bioinformatics@ifo.it.