9/9/2017

NHLBI Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium (PCBC)

Bioinformatics Committee Conference Call

Wednesday, August 23, 2017, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM (EDT)

(2 PM – 3 PM, CDT; 1 PM - 2 PM, MT; 12 Noon – 1 PM, PDT)

Summary Notes

Participants: Antonis Hatzopoulos (Chair),Bruce Aronow, Winston Hide, Jeffrey Huo, Carolyn Lutzko, Nathan Salomonis, Shannan Sui, Ling Tang, Michael Terrin, Yuji Zhang


  1. Opening Remarks and Minutes of the May 25, 2017, Conference Call
  2. Antonis welcomed the committee members and minutes were accepted as is.
  1. Manuscript Updates (Bruce Aronow, Carolyn Lutzko, Nathan Salomonis)
  2. Manuscript #3, Differentiation Paper

Writing group isoccupiedwith grant proposals, but will refocus efforts on manuscript #3. Nathan will coordinate meetings to get the writing group on track with the publication timeline.

Michael reported that the NHLBI approves the group’s suggestion in posting preprint of manuscript inbioRxiv(pronounced "bio-archive") when it is ready.

  • Group discussed the overall impact of published manuscript #2, "Integrated Genomic Analysis of Diverse Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from the Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium (PCBC)” and additional methods to publicize and engage interest. According to Altmetric.com, this manuscript has a score of 572, which means that it is in the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric, one of the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#1 of 739); high attention score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile). Manuscript was also mentioned in 71 news outlets, 2 blogs, 19 tweets, and 2 Facebook pages. Nathan further reported that 12 papers cited this publication. Group suggested highlighting these metrics on the front page of Synapse or other channels to draw additional attention to the publication. Nathan will discuss this issue with the core group at the next manuscript meeting.
  1. Bioinformatics Core
  2. Synapse: Metrics and Activities (Larsson Omberg, Kenny Daily)

Michael suggested incorporating Dr. Jeffrey Whitsett’s LungGENS (a web-based tool for mapping single-cell gene expression in the developing lung) as a resource on the Synapse for users to access. We could include a link on the Synapse platform to the LungGENS resource. Nathan will discuss this with folks from Synapse for their approval.

  • No reports on Synapse usage since Larsson and Kenny were not on the call.
  1. Cell Characterization Core and Bioinformatics (Carolyn Lutzko)
  2. Cell Lines Characterization Updates

Carolyn is waiting confirmation from Nathan and Phill on information forwarded regarding disease lines. Nathan will review data and respond to Carolyn.

There are possible funds to work on Dr. Zhang’s cell line proposal. Michael will present the details to Dr. Buxton for a determination.

  • WiCell Update

There are metadata on a few lines so Carolyn is enlisting Michael’s assistance to resolve them.

  1. Other Business
  2. PCBC members are welcome to join the 1st Annual PCTC meeting in Cincinnati, OH, September 25-26, 2017, but meeting expenses will be the responsibility of the PCBC attendees.
  3. Ling will set up the next Bioinformatics Committee teleconference.

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