Cancer genome analysis informatics

Abstract

The analysis of cancer genomes has benefited from the advances in technology that enable data to be generated on an unprecedented scale, describing a tumour genome's sequence and composition at increasingly high resolution and reducing cost. This progress is likely to increase further over the coming years as next-generation sequencing approaches are applied to the study of cancer genomes, in tandem with large-scale efforts such as the Cancer Genome Atlas and recently announced International Cancer Genome Consortium efforts to complement those already established such as the Sanger Institute Cancer Genome Project. This presents challenges for the cancer researcher and the research community in general, in terms of analysing the data generated in one's own projects and also in coordinating and interrogating data that are publicly available. This review aims to provide a brief overview of some of the main informatics resources currently available and their use, and some of the informatics approaches that may be applied in the study of cancer genomes.