Data Science and Data Management
Group Leader:
Dr Ross Gray
Advances in technology are leading to the production of vast, multimodal and high-dimensional biological data sets. To fully realise the potential of these data, to facilitate sharing and to bring to bear new developments in machine learning, the data science and data management team are building a common data platform called SPLICE—the Scientific Platform for Life Sciences data Integration, Collaboration and Exploration.
Lab Members
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Recent Publications
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Recent Publications
Human-correlated genetic models identify precision therapy for liver cancer.
Nature. 2025.
A Comparative Evaluation of Mediastinal Nodal SUVmax and Derived Ratios from (18)F-FDG PET/CT Imaging to Predict Nodal Metastases in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2023;13:1209.
PD-1 and TIM-3 differentially regulate subsets of mouse IL-17A-producing γδ T cells.
J Exp Med. 2023;220:e20211431.
Results of the Meso-ORIGINS feasibility study regarding collection of matched benign-mesothelioma tissue pairs by longitudinal surveillance.
BMJ Open. 2023;13:e067780.
Glioblastoma extracellular vesicles influence glial cell hyaluronic acid deposition to promote invasiveness.
Neuro-Oncology Advances. 2023;5:vdad067.
Absent expansion of AXIN2+ hepatocytes and altered physiology in Axin2CreERT2 mice challenges the role of pericentral hepatocytes in homeostatic liver regeneration.
J Hepatol. 2023;78:1028-1036.
PTEN deficiency exposes a requirement for an ARF GTPase module for integrin-dependent invasion in ovarian cancer.
The EMBO Journal. 2023.
Competing risks analysis for neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio as a predictor of diabetic retinopathy incidence in the Scottish population.
BMC Med. 2023;21:304.
Spatial regulation of the glycocalyx component podocalyxin is a switch for prometastatic function.
Sci Adv. 2023;9:eabq1858.
Phase II proof-of-concept study of atorvastatin in castration-resistant prostate cancer.
BJU Int. 2023;131:236-243.
Epithelial TGFβ engages growth-factor signalling to circumvent apoptosis and drive intestinal tumourigenesis with aggressive features.
Nat Commun. 2022;13:7551.
Traject3d allows label-free identification of distinct co-occurring phenotypes within 3D culture by live imaging.
Nat Commun. 2022;13:5317.
p53-mediated redox control promotes liver regeneration and maintains liver function in response to CCl4.
Cell Death Differ. 2022;29:514-526.
Cancer-associated fibroblasts require proline synthesis by PYCR1 for the deposition of pro-tumorigenic extracellular matrix.
Nature Metabolism. 2022;4(6):693-710.
CXCR2 inhibition enables NASH-HCC immunotherapy.
Gut. 2022;71:2093-2106.
Mesenchymal stromal cells cultured in physiological conditions sustain citrate secretion with glutamate anaplerosis.
Mol Metab. 2022.
E3 ligase-inactivation rewires CBL interactome to elicit oncogenesis by hijacking RTK-CBL-CIN85 axis.
Oncogene. 2021;40:2149-2164.
Developing a coordinate-based strategy to support cognitive targeted prostate biopsies and correlative spatial-histopathological outcome analysis.
Asian J Androl. 2021;23:231-235.
NOTUM from Apc-mutant cells biases clonal competition to initiate cancer.
Nature. 2021;594:430-435.
PPAR-gamma induced AKT3 expression increases levels of mitochondrial biogenesis driving prostate cancer.
Oncogene. 2021;40:2355-2366.
Oncogenic BRAF, unrestrained by TGFbeta-receptor signalling, drives right-sided colonic tumorigenesis.
Nat Commun. 2021;12:3464.
Nuclear-capture of endosomes depletes nuclear G-actin to promote SRF/MRTF activation and cancer cell invasion.
Nat Commun. 2021;12:6829.
SLFN5 Regulates LAT1-Mediated mTOR Activation in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer.
Cancer Res. 2021;81:3664-3678.
MICAL1 regulates actin cytoskeleton organization, directional cell migration and the growth of human breast cancer cells as orthotopic xenograft tumours.
Cancer Lett. 2021;519:226-236.
The amino acid transporter SLC7A5 is required for efficient growth of KRAS-mutant colorectal cancer.
Nat Genet. 2021;53:16-26.
A RAC-GEF network critical for early intestinal tumourigenesis.
Nat Commun. 2021;12:56.
Selection of established tumour cells through narrow diameter micropores enriches for elevated Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK MAPK signalling and enhanced tumour growth.
Small GTPases. 2021;12:294-310.
Serum Proteomics and Plasma Fibulin-3 in Differentiation of Mesothelioma From Asbestos-Exposed Controls and Patients With Other Pleural Diseases.
J Thorac Oncol. 2021;16:1705-1717.
MYC regulates fatty acid metabolism through a multigenic program in claudin-low triple negative breast cancer.
British Journal of Cancer. 2020;122:868-884.
BRF1 accelerates prostate tumourigenesis and perturbs immune infiltration.
Oncogene. 2020;38:1797-1806.
Repression of the Type I Interferon pathway underlies MYC & KRAS-dependent evasion of NK & B cells in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.
Cancer Discovery. 2020;10:872-887.
Activation of beta-catenin cooperates with loss of Pten to drive AR-independent castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Cancer Research. 2020;80:576-590.
RUNX1 is a driver of renal cell carcinoma correlating with clinical outcome.
Cancer Res. 2020;80:2325-2339.
Loss of BCL9/9l suppresses Wnt driven tumourigenesis in models that recapitulate human cancer.
Nature Communications. 2019;10:723.
Epithelial NOTCH Signaling Rewires the Tumor Microenvironment of Colorectal Cancer to Drive Poor-Prognosis Subtypes and Metastasis.
Cancer Cell. 2019;36:319-336.
Identification of a Clinically Relevant Signature for Early Progression in KRAS-Driven Lung Adenocarcinoma.
Cancers. 2019;11:600.
Migration through physical constraints is enabled by MAPK-induced cell softening via actin cytoskeleton re-organization.
Journal of Cell Science. 2019;132.
TGFbeta inhibition restores a regenerative response in acute liver injury by suppressing paracrine senescence.
Sci Transl Med. 2018;10:eaan1230.
Replication Stress Drives Constitutive Activation of the DNA Damage Response and Radioresistance in Glioblastoma Stem-like Cells.
Cancer Res. 2018;78(17):5060-5071.
Fam49/CYRI interacts with Rac1 and locally suppresses protrusions.
Nat Cell Biol. 2018;20:1159-1171.
N-WASP Control of LPAR1 Trafficking Establishes Response to Self-Generated LPA Gradients to Promote Pancreatic Cancer Cell Metastasis.
Developmental Cell. 2019;51:431-445.
The ERBB network facilitates KRAS-driven lung tumorigenesis.
Sci Transl Med. 2018;10:eaao2565.
Calcium signalling links MYC to NUAK1.
Oncogene. 2018;37:982-989.
Colorectal Tumors Require NUAK1 for Protection from Oxidative Stress.
Cancer Discovery. 2018;8:632-647.
TGFβ pathway limits dedifferentiation following WNT and MAPK pathway activation to suppress intestinal tumourigenesis.
Cell Death Differ. 2017;24:1681-1693.
Increased T-cell Infiltration Elicited by Erk5 Deletion in a Pten-Deficient Mouse Model of Prostate Carcinogenesis.
Cancer Res. 2017;77:3158-3168.
Sprouty2 loss-induced IL6 drives castration-resistant prostate cancer through scavenger receptor B1.
EMBO Mol Med. 2018;10.
Histone chaperone HIRA deposits histone H3.3 onto foreign viral DNA and contributes to anti-viral intrinsic immunity.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2017;45(20):11673-11683.
Transcriptomic profiling of human breast and melanoma cells selected by migration through narrow constraints.
Sci Data. 2017;4:170172.
Bromodomain Protein BRD4 Is a Transcriptional Repressor of Autophagy and Lysosomal Function.
Mol Cell. 2017;66:517-532.
Coordination by Cdc42 of Actin, Contractility, and Adhesion for Melanoblast Movement in Mouse Skin.
Curr Biol. 2017;27:624-637.
Sleeping Beauty screen reveals Pparg activation in metastatic prostate cancer.
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2016;113:8290-8295.
The initiator methionine tRNA drives cell migration and invasion leading to increased metastatic potential in melanoma.
Biol Open. 2016;5:1371-1379.
Group Leader
Ross Gray
Dr. Ross Gray leads the Data Science and Data Management group at the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute in Glasgow. Through his previous research career he published >75 papers across topics in physics, machine learning and data science.
His work at CRUK is now focused on the development of SPLICE, a FAIR-aligned data platform for large-scale life sciences research. SPLICE supports the MRC funded National Mouse Genetics Network, integrating data from 20 institutions and seven disease areas into a harmonised model, enabling automated analysis, visualisation and machine-learning-ready datasets. His work also includes AI-assisted harmonisation of metadata and the development of reproduceable analysis pipelines for multi-modal life sciences data.
Lab Members
Bioinformatician
Siddharth Jayaraman
Siddharth Jayaraman is a bioinformatician with experience across computational biology, multi-omics analysis, and data-intensive biomedical research. His work focuses on scalable Nextflow workflows, reproducible analysis systems, and FAIR data infrastructure for the SPLICE platform. He contributes to integrated molecular and spatial data workflows supporting translational cancer research across mouse model and human datasets, including work aligned with the MRC National Mouse Genetics Network.
Bioinformatician
Huw Richards
Dr. Huw Richards is a bioinformatician within the SPLICE platform, with a background in microbial metagenomics and evolutionary biology. He is developing Nextflow analysis pipelines, with a focus on building scalable, reproducible workflows for large-scale bioinformatics analyses. His interests include developing methods that leverage existing published data to create more connected, reusable, and comparative analytical frameworks.
Bioinformatician
Lauren DeLong
Dr. Lauren DeLong is a Data Scientist working to integrate AI and ML methodologies and pipelines into the SPLICE platform. Her interdisciplinary background ranges from wet lab biology to the development of novel AI methods. Most recently, her work has focused on incorporating expert clinical and biomedical knowledge into deep learning architectures to enhance their reliability and interpretability.
Software Developer
Ifedayo Ojo*
Information about this team member’s research interests, experience, and background will be added soon. Please check back for updates.
Software Developer
Mayank Sikarwar*
Information about this team member’s research interests, experience, and background will be added soon. Please check back for updates.
Data Coordinator
Paola Galdi
Dr. Paola Galdi is a computer scientist with a background in machine learning and biomedical data analysis. She is currently a Data Coordinator, supported by the CRC-STARS initiative to oversee metadata curation and data sharing practices for the SPLICE platform. Her interests focus on AI applications, multi-modal data integration, and advancing FAIR and reproducible research practices.