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The inconvenience of data of convenience: computational research beyond post-mortem analyses

Nature Methods volume 14, pages 937–938 (2017)Cite this article

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To the Editor:

Over the last two decades researchers have witnessed an explosion in the amount and diversity of data collected in biological and medical studies. These data are often generated without the input of those who will later analyze it. Computational analyses are therefore, in the words of statistician Ronald Fisher, mostly performed 'post mortem'. We believe that a more efficient scientific process should use computational modeling based on previously acquired data to guide targeted data collection efforts.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Ankit Agrawal, Tero Aittokallio, Chloé-Agathe Azencott, Emmanuel Barillot, Nikolai Bessonov, Deborah Chasman, Urszula Czerwinska, Alireza Fotuhi Siahpirani, Stephen Friend, Anna Goldenberg, Jan Greenberg, Manuel Huber, Samuel Kaski, Christoph Kurz, Marsha Mailick, Michael Merzenich, Nadya Morozova, Arezoo Movaghar, Mor Nahum, Torbjörn E M Nordling, Thea Norman, Robert Penner, Sushmita Roy, Krishanu Saha, Asif Salim, Siamak Sorooshyari, Vassili Soumelis, Alit Stark-Inbar, Audra Sterling, Gustavo Stolovitzky, S S Shiju, Jing Tang, Alen Tosenberger, Thomas Vieet Van, Krister Wennerberg and Andrey Zinovyev Alen Tosenberger and: A list of members and affiliations follows.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MINES ParisTech, PSL-Research University, CBIO–Centre for Computational Biology, Fontainebleau, France

    Chloé-Agathe Azencott & Chloé-Agathe Azencott

  2. Institut Curie, Paris, France

    Chloé-Agathe Azencott, Tero Aittokallio & Chloé-Agathe Azencott

  3. INSERM U900, Paris, France

    Chloé-Agathe Azencott, Tero Aittokallio & Chloé-Agathe Azencott

  4. Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Finland

    Tero Aittokallio, Tero Aittokallio, Jing Tang & Krister Wennerberg

  5. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Turku, Finland

    Tero Aittokallio, Tero Aittokallio & Jing Tang

  6. Department of Biostatistics & Medical Informatics, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Sushmita Roy & Sushmita Roy

  7. Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Sushmita Roy, Deborah Chasman, Sushmita Roy & Krishanu Saha

  8. Sage Bionetworks, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Stephen Friend, Thea Norman, Thea Norman & Stephen Friend

  9. IBM Computational Biology Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, USA

    Gustavo Stolovitzky & Gustavo Stolovitzky

  10. Department of Genetics and Genomics Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA

    Gustavo Stolovitzky & Gustavo Stolovitzky

  11. Genetics and Genome Biology, SickKids Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Anna Goldenberg & Anna Goldenberg

  12. Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Anna Goldenberg & Anna Goldenberg

  13. The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, HBNI, CIT Campus, Taramani, Chennai, India

    Ankit Agrawal

  14. Institut Curie, PSL Research University, Mines ParisTech, Inserm U900, Paris, France

    Emmanuel Barillot, Urszula Czerwinska & Andrey Zinovyev

  15. Institute of Problems of Mechanical Engineering, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Nikolai Bessonov

  16. Department of Computer Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Alireza Fotuhi Siahpirani

  17. Department of Social Work, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Jan Greenberg

  18. Institute of Health Economics and Health Care Management, Helmholtz Zentrum München (GmbH)–German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany

    Manuel Huber & Christoph Kurz

  19. Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland

    Samuel Kaski

  20. Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland

    Samuel Kaski

  21. Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Marsha Mailick, Arezoo Movaghar, Krishanu Saha & Audra Sterling

  22. Posit Science, San Francisco, California, USA

    Michael Merzenich, Mor Nahum, Siamak Sorooshyari, Alit Stark-Inbar & Thomas Vieet Van

  23. Laboratoire Epigénétique et Cancer, CNRS FRE 3377, CEA Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Nadya Morozova

  24. Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques (IHES), Bures-sur-Yvette, France

    Nadya Morozova, Robert Penner & Alen Tosenberger

  25. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Arezoo Movaghar & Krishanu Saha

  26. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

    Torbjörn E M Nordling

  27. Math and Physics Departments, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

    Robert Penner

  28. Centre for the Quantum Geometry of Moduli Spaces, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Robert Penner

  29. Department of Space, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Trivandrum, India

    Asif Salim & S S Shiju

  30. Institut Curie, PSL Research University, Inserm U932, Paris, France

    Vassili Soumelis

  31. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Audra Sterling

  32. Unité de Chronobiologie Théorique, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium

    Alen Tosenberger

Authors
  1. Chloé-Agathe Azencott
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  2. Tero Aittokallio
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  3. Sushmita Roy
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  4. Thea Norman
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  5. Stephen Friend
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  6. Gustavo Stolovitzky
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  7. Anna Goldenberg
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Consortia

DREAM Idea Challenge Consortium

  • Ankit Agrawal
  • , Tero Aittokallio
  • , Chloé-Agathe Azencott
  • , Emmanuel Barillot
  • , Nikolai Bessonov
  • , Deborah Chasman
  • , Urszula Czerwinska
  • , Alireza Fotuhi Siahpirani
  • , Stephen Friend
  • , Anna Goldenberg
  • , Jan Greenberg
  • , Manuel Huber
  • , Samuel Kaski
  • , Christoph Kurz
  • , Marsha Mailick
  • , Michael Merzenich
  • , Nadya Morozova
  • , Arezoo Movaghar
  • , Mor Nahum
  • , Torbjörn E M Nordling
  • , Thea Norman
  • , Robert Penner
  • , Sushmita Roy
  • , Krishanu Saha
  • , Asif Salim
  • , Siamak Sorooshyari
  • , Vassili Soumelis
  • , Alit Stark-Inbar
  • , Audra Sterling
  • , Gustavo Stolovitzky
  • , S S Shiju
  • , Jing Tang
  • , Alen Tosenberger
  • , Thomas Vieet Van
  • , Krister Wennerberg
  •  & Andrey Zinovyev

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Azencott, CA., Aittokallio, T., Roy, S. et al. The inconvenience of data of convenience: computational research beyond post-mortem analyses. Nat Methods 14, 937–938 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.4457

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.4457

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