The Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology is committed to basic research in statistical methods and collaborative research in cancer. It provides expert consultation on the experimental design and analysis of clinical, laboratory, and population-based studies. Faculty and staff statisticians play central roles in the development of all clinical research protocols at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) and several other large national and international multi-center collaborative research programs. Statisticians also serve as members of the Institute's several Scientific Review Committees and the DFCI Institutional Review Board.

Faculty and statisticians in the department have long been active in extending the boundaries of statistical methods for medical research, and provide expertise in nearly all aspects of interdisciplinary research in cancer. They either prepare or review the statistical designs and analysis plans for all clinical protocols conducted at DFCI and DF/HCC through membership in the newly developed various disease programs, the DF/HCC Scientific Review Committee, and the Institutional Review Board. Our statisticians also provide assistance on all grant submissions with statistical content.

The Functional Genomics and Computational Biology Lab focuses on the application of functional genomics techniques – including microarrays, proteomics, metabolomics, and other high-throughput approaches – and the development of computational approaches in support of these studies to develop a comprehensive view of human diseases including cancer. The goal of the lab is to develop software, databases, and bioinformatics techniques that will allow the development of new diagnostics and a more complete understanding of the cellular networks that are mechanistically responsible for diseases; by making it widely and freely available, it supports not only researchers here at Dana-Farber, but all others in the research community.

The department continues to have a close partnership with the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard School of Public Health, where the majority of our faculty hold primary academic appointments, teach in the degree programs,and direct doctoral student dissertations.