Frequently Asked Questions at Fios

In short, no. We can analyse data generated within your own laboratory or that of a 3^rd party provider. We also offer extensive services in public domain and database data mining and analysis.

If you are still to generate the data, we can help you with planning your study, advising you on experimental design and selection of the most appropriate technology.

We do work with a network of labs globally who can assist with data generation and we can help manage the process if this is part of a data analysis project.

We can accept data in most formats and from any location.

Depending on the size of the data file, we can use email, cloud transfer or physical receipt via hard-drives.

Speak to us if you are unsure about how to get your data to us.

This varies between each individual study but generally:

Study Design

What type of study are you conducting? For example, is it a preclinical cell-based assay or human samples from a clinical trial?

How many treatment groups do you have? How many compounds/treatment types are there? What are the dose groups/time points/cycles involved?

Do you have controls, if so, how many? What are they? Baseline samples? Placebo-treated?

How many samples do you have? Are replicates technical or biological?

What are the comparisons of interest?

Data Type

What type of data are you generating? Is it RNAseq; proteomic; flow cytometry? What platform/instrument is used? What parameters were used?

What form will we receive the data in? FASTq? BAM? Excel?

Do you have any metadata to be included in the analysis? Outcome data? Patient info?

When will your data be generated and ready for us to start the analysis process?

Our team sends a data analysis report once the project has been completed but we can also provide interim updates like a QC report if agreed in advance. The report comes as a secure and interactive HTML link and includes all methods and results.

We have a number of sample reports – if you would like to see an example, please email us. Let us know what area(s) of research you are interested in and we will aim to send you a relevant example report.

We tend to work in R and Bioconductor then export, using tools like markdown and middleman.

Yes – we have carried out analysis across multiple ‘omics platforms as well as including non-omic data like outcome data.

An example of our work for this would be our published Nature paper with Genentech.

Another example was a proteomics project involving integrative analysis of genomics data. The VISICORT project was an EU-funded multi-disciplinary project with expertise in basic immunology, bio-sampling, systems biology/immune profiling and bioinformatics, amongst other areas. Contact us for more information on this.

Yes – we can handle pretty much any numerical data. This includes biomarker assay data such as cytokine panels, RT PCR, and flow cytometry data as well as quantitated imaging data.

Analysis of human data is a large part of what we do, but we do work across all stages of the drug development process including preclinical cell and animal-based studies. We also have experience in other areas of life sciences such as AgBio.

Once a project proposal has been signed we allocate a Project Manager and lead analyst to the project.

The Project Manager will be responsible for organising the transfer of your data to our team and/or for managing the process of data generation if required.

Clear lines of communication will be set up with the frequency of contact suited to the project and your needs.

For more information on how our service works, click here.

Yes, we have a number of sample analysis reports showing work with areas such as gene expression, methylation, proteomics and congruence analysis. Please email us for access or fill out our form below.

We have published a number of papers and posters with clients. You can find them on our Publications and Case Studies pages.

There are many reasons that set Fios’ data analysis apart from others:

We regularly work with highly complex, multi-omic data sets and we are able to interpret them in a manner that is useful to the client. Our approach is to provide you with actionable information rather than just tables of more data. Our goal is for you to understand the analysis we performed, why we set certain thresholds, why we used certain tools so that you can extract the maximum value from your data even if you have limited bioinformatics knowledge. This jargon-free biology-friendly approach has resulted in a 95% repeated business rate which we are very proud of.

We know that no two clients have the same needs, which is why our data analysis services are bespoke. This enables us to have a key focus on the client and what is required for their studies and research.

We aim to act as more than just a vendor or service provider. We are more of an extension to the team, ensuring that data analysis is completed to the highest quality.

Our reporting style is unique – and praised by clients. All reports are easy to navigate and interactive, allowing clients to interrogate their data as they wish.

We use a team approach when handling client analysis. With our structure, we pull from a wide-range expertise in the technical team, to ensure the highest quality is produced for the client.

Fios has a formal Quality Management System (QMS) in place which has been audited by clients.

The QMS has been put in place to ensure the best practices are applied and that we continue to provide excellent client service, meeting the needs and expectations of all clients. The components of the QMS are adhered to internally, to guide Fios employees through the requirements of company standards that must be maintained. These can also be shared externally to familiarise clients with controls put in place, to assure them of the integrity of Fios Genomics and its employees and its focus on client satisfaction and continuous improvement.

Our IT system is managed internally and supported by a 3^rd party IT supplier. We use an industry-standard firewall and security encryptions and our computational servers and data storage units are not available outside of Fios’ network.

Data is physically located within our secure facility with restricted and recorded access. All systems are backed up daily both on-site and at an off-site data centre.