TY - JOUR UR - https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.27603v2 DO - 10.7287/peerj.preprints.27603v2 TI - Interpreting and integrating big data in the life sciences AU - Mangul,Serghei DA - 2019/06/07 PY - 2019 KW - omics KW - NGS KW - big data KW - computational algorithms KW - command line interface AB - Recent advances in omics technologies have led to the broad applicability of computational techniques across various domains of life science and medical research. These technologies provide an unprecedented opportunity to collect omics data from hundreds of thousands of individuals and to study gene-disease association without the aid of prior assumptions about the trait biology. Despite the many advantages of modern omics technologies, interpretations of big data produced by such technologies require advanced computational algorithms. Below I outline key challenges that biomedical researches are facing when interpreting and integrating big omics data. I discuss the reproducibility aspect of big data analysis in the life sciences and review current practices in reproducible research. Finally, I explain the skills which biomedical researchers need to acquire in order to independently analyze big omics data. VL - 7 SP - e27603v2 T2 - PeerJ Preprints JO - PeerJ Preprints J2 - PeerJ Preprints SN - 2167-9843 ER -