AWARD SUMMARY for Zhiping Weng, UMass (U24HG009446)

The goal of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project is to catalog all functional elements in the human genome through the integration and analysis of high-throughput data. We propose to continue the ENCODE Data Analysis Center (EDAC, DAC) which will provide support and leadership in analyzing and integrating data from the ENCODE project as well as work closely with other ENCODE groups including the Data Coordination Center. Our proposed DAC team (Zhiping Weng, Mark Gerstein, Manolis Kellis, Roderic Guigo, Rafael Irizarry, X. Shirley Liu, Anshul Kundaje, and William Noble) has expertise across a wide range of fields including transcriptional regulation, epigenetics, evolution, genomics and proteomics, regulatory RNA, biophysics, and computational biology, where they are the leaders in machine learning, statistical genetics, networks, and gene annotation. These investigators also have a history of successfully working collaboratively in large consortia, particularly with other ENCODE groups. Their publication records demonstrate their synergistic approach to producing high-impact science and useful resources that benefit the broader biomedical communities. The proposed DAC will pursue the following four aims: Aim 1. Analyze and integrate data and metadata from a broad range of functional genomics projects; Aim 2. Serve as an informatics resource by supporting the activities of the ENCODE Analysis Working Group; Aim 3. Create high-quality Encyclopedias of DNA elements in the human and mouse genomes; Aim 4. Assess quality and utility of the ENCODE data and provide feedback to NHGRI and the Consortium.