Arpana Gupta, PhD, and Bruce Nalibioff, PhD

The Database and Media Core (DBMC) will support the integration, synergy and productivity of the programs within the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center through the creation and maintenance of a multimodal database that includes clinical and biological information from center studies. This comprehensive and secure multi-omics database will be the foundation for the cross modality and cross project studies crucial to the center’s overall goals while preserving individual PI’s data access and control. The DBMC will also provide databased information, graphics and content for media production.

Database and Media Core Directors: Arpana Gupta, PhD, and Bruce Nalibioff, PhD

For more information, contact Cathy Liu at [email protected]

The major categories of services provided by the Database and Media Core

  • Consultation on methods of data collection and data structure. This includes information on how best to label and organize clinical and biological data and ideal patient self-report measures to facilitate data analysis and collaborations across laboratories
  • Data cleaning, quality control, automated scoring of common clinical measures and updating descriptive statistics on database content
  • Dataset generation for statistical processing
  • Data management and storage
  • Coordination with the other cores of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center (e.g., Neuroimaging Core, Microbiome Core and Bioinformatics Core) for the creation of multimodal and multi-omics datasets
  • Formatting assistance with presentation slides
  • Formatting assistance with scientific posters
  • Figure generation suitable for manuscripts and grants

Facilities and equipment

  • The DBMC is housed in a 6,000 square foot space in the UCLA Center for Health Sciences Building, Room 42-210. Offices for the core’s key personnel are located at this facility.
  • The DBMC utilizes UCLA Health IT (DGIT) services and servers as primary computational and storage resources. All on-premise datacenter facilities and cloud computing services are HIPAA-compliant. DGIT provides enterprise-level storage that reliably houses critical data in a fast, scalable and highly available environment (cloud and on-premise) that includes managed access, encrypted drives, tiered storage and data retention. DGIT implements advanced security measures, high-tech monitoring, and the most up-to-date practices to keep the network infrastructure secure and reliable. This includes next-generation firewall management, advanced malware protection and data loss prevention.
  • Primary software for the databases are MySQL (MariaDB) in Linux (Ubuntu) environment and Microsoft Access in Windows environment
  • Primary software for websites and web applications include WordPress, PHP and Javascript
  • Primary web-based survey tools include Qualtrics and SurveyMonkey
  • Primary graphics software include Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Other software used by DBMC personnel include Microsoft Office suite, Adobe Acrobat, SPSS and SAS