Core Facility
Medical Biometry and Statistical Bioinformatics

The Core Facility "Medical Biometry and Statistical Bioinformatics" (MBSB), positioned in the Department of Medical Statistics, is a Core Facility of the University Medical Center Göttingen. The task of this Core Facility is the biometrical and bioinformatical support of the institutions, working groups and Ph.D. students of the UMG with the planning and analysis of scientific studies and experiments. The bioinformatical support comprises particularly the analysis of microarray, proteomics and next-generation sequencing data. Depending on the available capacities, the support can also be used by other institutions of the Georg-August-University Göttingen as well as non-university research institutions at the Göttingen Research Campus.
This website gives you a short overview on the services of the Core Facility and provides you our contact informations. Further informations can be found in our user regulations, and our catalogue of services and charges.

MBSB-Newsletter

The MBSB-Newsletter is used to announce courses, seminars, changes in consultation schedules and the like. Link to subscription

Range of services

The Core Facility can consult you regarding following problems:

Experimental Planing, Sample Size Planing
Biometrical and bioinformatics concepts for funding applications
Data management
Statistical analysis of medical and biological data
Bioinformatics of medical and biological data (e.g. from Microarrays, Proteomics oder NextGen-Sequencing)
Analysis of sequencing data (e.g. RNA-Seq, ChIP-Seq, Methyl-Seq, Metagenomic Data, Copy-Number-Changes)
Methods and software development
Interpretation of results
Software consulting
Visualisation and representation of results

For these problems we provide the following key services:

1. Short consulting-hours

The short consulting-hours can be visited in the case of simple and short problems concerning biostatistical of bioinformatical methods and can be used as often as you like. The short consulting-hours take place each Tuesday from 1 to 3 p.m. In order to avoid longer waiting times each short consulting is usually limited to ca. 15 to 30 minutes. The short consulting-hours can be visited without prior appointment. The registration takes place on-site (Humboldtallee 32, room GF 162/164).

2. Professional data analysis and study design

We can carry out the biometrical and bioinformatical planning and analysis of your scientific experiments and studies.
In general, the Core Facility recommends its early involvement (i.e. already in the planning phase). An early involvement enables an exact matching between experimental design and biometrical or bioinformatical data analysis. Serious mistakes in the planning of experiments can thus be avoided.
Please apply for this service by using our webform. One of our consultants will then contact you to make an appointment.
Depending on the size of the support, the Core Facility (on behalf of the Operation Division G1-1 'Research and General Academic Affairs') has to raise charges. These charges are solely used to refinance our service and get transferred back to the research budget of the UMG.

3. Coached working

The coached working at the computer serves as support for using statistic and bioinformatic softwares. The coached working takes place in the CIP-room located in the Department of Medical Statistics (Humboldtallee 32, GF) as well as in the Learning Resource Center (LRC, Medical Library, Robert-Koch-Str. 40). The computers and softwares in the CIP-room can also be used outside the coaching times, in the case that there is no other teaching activity. The CIP-room has 20 working stations and provides – besides the statistic software – also the Microsoft Office applications, TeX and access to the internet. The CIP-room user regulations have to be followed.
The coached working can be visited without prior appointment. The registration takes place on-site (Humboldtallee 32 CIP-room or LRC).

3.1 Biometry

Our student assistents can support you in using the statistic softwares SAS, SPSS and R. The current opening hours and coaching times can be found in the following calenders. Please check for changes in the opening hours and coaching times before your visit.

3.2 Bioinformatics

Our members of staff can support you in creating typical plots of statistical bioinformatics (e.g. cluster heatmaps, volcano plots, PCA plots) or in the functional annotation of genes or proteins. The coached working for bioinformatics takes place after an appointment.

4. Methods and software courses

The Core Facility regularly offers special courses on biometrical or bioinformatical methods and software. The courses will be announced on this website. Here are some examples of previously performed courses: 'Data Analysis in Proteomics', 'Biometrie und Fallzahlplanung in Tierversuchsanträgen', 'Analysis of NGS-Experiments'.

How to apply

Type of service	Mode of application
Short consulting	Registration on-site (room GF 162/164)
Coached working	Registration on-site (Humboldtallee CIP-room or UMG main building LRC)
Professional data analysis and study design (including dissertation and habilitation projects)	pdf-application form or webform
Methods- and software courses	Registration according to course announcement