Case Studies

Worked examples showing how a DataCore project runs, from first enquiry to handover.

These are illustrative examples, not client case studies. DataCore Analytics is a young company and we will not present invented client work as real. Every example below describes the kind of project we take on, the decisions involved and what the client receives — using realistic parameters drawn from the study designs our consultants work with.

As real engagements complete and clients agree to be named, this page will be replaced with their work.

Pathogen Genomics

Genomic Surveillance for a National Reference Laboratory

A national public health laboratory sequencing respiratory pathogen samples weekly needs lineage assignment and outbreak detection with turnaround fast enough to inform response.

What arrived

Roughly 200 amplicon-sequenced genomes per week arriving from Illumina and Nanopore runs, with no in-house bioinformatician. Consensus genomes were being generated inconsistently and submissions to public repositories had stalled.

Timeline: Standing partnership; 48-hour turnaround per batch

Clinical & Epidemiological Data

Underpowered Cohort: Telling the Client Before the Reviewer Does

A research group asked for differential expression analysis on a cohort collected over three years, expecting a manuscript. The analysis showed the study could not answer the question as designed.

What arrived

RNA-Seq on 18 samples across three clinical groups, collected in two waves separated by 14 months, with extraction batch perfectly confounded with clinical group.

Timeline: 1 week to the finding; full analysis 4 weeks once the design was fixed

Genetic Variation

Variant Analysis in an African Family Cohort

A clinical genetics group investigating an undiagnosed paediatric condition across four consanguineous families, where standard pipelines returned an unmanageable candidate list.

What arrived

Whole exome sequencing on 14 individuals across four trios and extended families. An earlier analysis using default population frequency filters had returned several hundred candidate variants.

Timeline: 5 weeks

Public Data Mining

Grant Preliminary Data From Public Repositories

A researcher needed preliminary data supporting a hypothesis for a grant deadline, with no budget to generate new sequencing.

What arrived

A gene of interest, a disease context, and eleven weeks until the submission deadline.

Timeline: 4 weeks, submitted with three weeks to spare

Single-Cell

Single-Cell Study: Fewer Clusters Than Expected

A group with a completed 10x experiment wanted cell type annotation and differential expression, and had already produced clusters they were preparing to publish.

What arrived

Six samples across two conditions, previously analysed with default parameters, yielding 22 clusters the group had begun annotating individually.

Timeline: 5 weeks