Case Study
Advancing Prostate Cancer Research with Data Science Workshops and Working Groups
About the Research
Leveraging Data Analytics Working Groups to Advance Prostate Cancer Research
Dr. Mindy Graham is a research assistant professor of urology at the Feinberg School of Medicine. Her research investigates prostate cancer-driven tissue reprogramming and establishes the groundwork and rationale for developing novel immunomodulatory strategies for the treatment of prostate cancer. She joined Northwestern in 2022 after completing her postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Research Challenge
Dr. Graham studies the biology of prostate cancer using single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics tools. While she had some coding experience before joining Northwestern, she knew she needed to hone her bioinformatics and programming skills to thoroughly explore these complex data and finalize her analysis in preparation for her now-published work, Convergent alterations in the tumor microenvironment of MYC-driven human and murine prostate cancer.
She sought to discover available resources to assist in her research and learned that Research Computing and Data Services (RCDS) offered workshops and consultations, including statistical analysis methods, data visualization techniques, and best practices for coding.
Solution
While working on her research, Dr. Graham initially took the Fundamentals in Python workshop led by Colby Witherup Wood, manager of Data Science Services. She then followed up with several more workshops from the RCDS team to further improve her coding skills and pick up the basics of machine learning and other data analysis techniques. The workshops were essential for furthering her research, and with her newly gained knowledge, she was better prepared to respond to reviewers’ questions about the analysis included in her research paper.
Through the coding workshops, she learned about other resources provided by RCDS, including Bring Your Own Data (BYOD) Working Groups.
BYOD Working Groups comprise four to seven researchers who meet weekly to discuss what they plan to accomplish on their research projects. The group is facilitated by RCDS staff and is designed to help researchers focus on the next step of their project, get unstuck quickly when facing obstacles, and make forward progress on their work while simultaneously connecting with fellow Northwestern researchers who work in similar areas.
Impact
Through her participation in the group facilitated by Ritika Giri, data scientist, Dr. Graham has expanded her computational research community beyond prostate cancer biologists and continues collaborating with them regularly. She also encourages her students to take advantage of RCDS resources, which has already resulted in several data analysis breakthroughs.
The tools and knowledge I gained by attending the RCDS workshops and being a part of a BYOD working group continue to be a critical investment to further my research. Having the skills and confidence to independently analyze my data has yielded invaluable insights and has been instrumental for the future direction of my research.”
Research Assistant Professor of Urology
Feinberg School of Medicine
Additional Details
- Researchers: Mindy Graham and Ayesha Ahmad, research technician
- RCDS Lead Consultant: Colby Witherup Wood and Ritika Giri
- RCDS Services Used: