Projects & Collaborations
The Canadian Centre for Computational Genomics (C3G) leads and supports multiple large projects ranging from their development to deployment including software solutions, such as APIs and web applications, to facilitating the organization, discovery, visualization for both large-scale and small-scale projects.
Pan-Canadian Genome Library (PCGL)
Funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research and led by a dream team of Canadian geneticists, the Pan-Canadian Genome Library (PCGL) is establishing the framework for Canada’s management and sharing of human genomic data.
GenPipes
GenPipes was developed at the C3G as a flexible Python-based framework that facilitates the development and deployment of multi-step workflows optimized for High-Performance Computing clusters and the cloud. GenPipes comes with 12 validated and scalable pipelines for various genomics applications, including: RNA-seq, WGS, WES, ChIP-Seq, and HiC.
SecureData4Health (SD4H)
SecureData4Health (SD4H) is a secure cloud infrastructure that allows researchers to store, access, share and analyze data at any scale, in a fully governed, highly secure environment, while maintaining control of their own data at all times. This project builds upon the successful HPC4Health secure cloud now used by researchers and clinicians at multiple Ontario hospitals. It is the product of a collaboration between the C3G and Calcul Quebec.
Click on a project logo to learn more.
Marathon of Hope
MOH-Q, a Quebec cancer research initiative, aims to accelerate precision medicine through genomic profiling, clinical trials, and patient involvement.
Canadian Precision Health Initiative
The goal of Genome Canada’s planned investment in the first pillar of the initiative is to sequence the genomes of at least 100,000 Canadians, reflecting Canada’s unique and diverse population. This will provide the rich dataset needed to advance research, drive innovation and improve health-care outcomes for all Canadians.
Bento
Bento is an open-source genomic data sharing platform used to deploy data-focused portals. By adhering to existing and anticipated standards, APIs and schemas, such as from the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH), it facilitates interactions between various multi -omics research communities worldwide. Its reusable and interoperable components reduce the complexity and overhead of constructing data distribution portals. Many of our projects, such as the BQC19 and ICHANGE portals, rely on the Bento software infrastructure.
EpiShare
C3G drives the development of the EpiShare Open Science initiative to enhance the accessibility of epigenomic datasets and RNA expression reference data to users worldwide. In close collaboration with the International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC) and the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE), EpiShare adapts and extends GA4GH tools and standards to make accessing, sharing and analyzing epigenomic data more flexible.
International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC)
The International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC) coordinates the production of reference epigenome maps. The IHEC Data Portal is the official source to navigate through IHEC’s >7,000 reference epigenomic datasets, generated from >600 tissues. The portal enhances the utility of these reference maps by facilitating the discovery, visualization, analysis, download, and sharing of epigenomics data through rich, intuitive interfaces.
HostSeq
C3G supports data production and organization CGEn’s HostSeq project which aims to sequence genomes of 10,000 Canadians to help understand the genomic architecture of the host response to COVID-19.
Canadian Distributed Infrastructure for Genomics
National scale analysis, but over locally-controlled data. C3G is a main contributor to CanDIG (Canadian Distributed Infrastructure for Genomics), a platform for the distributed analysis of locally-controlled and private genomic data. CanDIG builds upon established and in-progress projects such as OpenID Connect and Keycloak for authentication and the GA4GH (Global Alliance for Genomics and Health) APIs and schemas for genomic data and genomic data exchange.
Canadian Centre for Computational Genomics
As an officially recognized core facility at McGill University, we offers a wide range of open-access omics data analysis services to researchers all across Canada and abroad.
BQC19
Mandated by Public Health Agency of Canada, the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS) and Génome Québec in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BQC19 ensures that health scientists have access to the biological materials and data necessary for their COVID-19 research efforts. Their discoveries identify people most at risk and assist the government to prioritize health care system resources, prescribe social measures to control the spread of infection, plan the resumption of economic activities and to anticipate and better prepare for future pandemics. Its decentralized infrastructure allows the federation of provincial, national and international research.
EpiAtlas
EpiAtlas is a multi-institutional reprocessing initiative of the IHEC data. Using a containerized pipeline specifically designed for HPC environments, it yields a uniform, gold standard epigenomic atlas for many tissue types. The common processing methodology facilitates large-scale direct inter-tissue comparisons and alleviates the need for researchers to perform their own hardware intensive and time-consuming operations.
Mi4
McGill’s MI4 funds research on the role of microbes in human diseases and diseases for which there is a primary immunologic cause or for which the treatment is primarily directed at the immune system. C3G contributes to this initiative by supporting the microbiome research platform led by Dr. Ken Dewar on all aspects of bioinformatics.
VirusSeq
The Canadian VirusSeq Data Portal is an open-access, open-source platform that centralizes SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences and associated non-personal contextual data from across Canada. Developed under the Canadian COVID-19 Genomics Network (CanCOGeN) initiative, its primary goal is to sequence up to 150,000 viral samples from individuals testing positive for COVID-19, thereby enhancing Canada’s capacity to monitor and respond to the pandemic.
Canadian Bioinformatics Hub
The Canadian Bioinformatics Hub is Canada’s platform for Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, and Data Science skills and community development.
McGill Genome Centre
The McGill Genome Centre provides Canadian and international researchers with high-throughput technologies and cutting-edge approaches to enable next-generation genomic studies. As its acting bioinformatics platform, C3G supports data production and technology development efforts of the MCG.
Global Alliance for Genomics and Health
Formed in 2013, the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) unites an international community dedicated to advancing human health through genomic data. We build technical standards and policy frameworks and tools that will expand responsible, voluntary, and secure use of genomic and other related health data.
PSO, volet 2a
This project aims to enhance C3G’s ability to support Quebec businesses in the life sciences sector, such as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, by developing specialized genomic tools and analyses tailored to their needs.
Past Projects
COVID-19 Resources Canada
C3G is a founding partner of COVID-19 Resources Canada, an online national platform to aggregate COVID-19 pandemic responses. This web community coordinates local volunteer initiatives, supports accelerated research and presents pandemic health issues in a trustworthy and accessible manner.
CoVSeQ
CoVSeQ is a partnership between the Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec (INSPQ) , the McGill Genome Center and C3G to sequence the viral genomes of Quebec patients with COVID-19 disease. C3G is in charge of developing pipelines and analyzing the sequenced genomes.
Genetics and Genomics Analysis Platform
The Genetics and Genomics Analysis Platform (GenAP) aims at facilitating the work of researchers and students by offering out of the box Web applications running on an infrastructure that currently leverages Compute Canada Cloud and HPC resources.