Eye Tracking Lab, Yale Child Study Center Autism Group

Background

Prometheus was approached by the Yale Child Study Center's Autism Group in the summer of 2005 to develop an integrated system for managing the research data produced by visits with infant participants, as well as the visits themselves (including scheduling, family tracking, and follow-up). As an added challenge, this project involved a novel experimental procedure known as eye tracking, which presented its own unique data management needs.

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Our Role

Prometheus developed a specific data model for the effective storage of eye-tracking data, and integrated it seamlessly into the overall system for managing family visits and the other phenotypic data produced by the study. The system is still in use today, and provides support for organizing data on a participant by Sessions, Clip-Types, or even specific stimuli (which are also stored in the system).

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Simons Simplex Collection, The Simons Foundation

Background

The Simons Simplex Collection (SSC) is a landmark study of autism as a component of the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI). The primary goal of the SSC is to establish a permanent repository of genetic samples from 2000+ families, each of which has one child affected with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and parents unaffected with ASD. Each genetic sample will have an associated collection of data that provides a precise characterization of the individual (phenotype). Data will be collected at over one dozen universities across the US and Canada.

The SSC involves approximately two dozen standardized and experimental instruments, resulting in over 6,000 phenotypic data points for each family. Additionally, all families will undergo genetic screening on both the Illumina and the Nimblegen platforms, each producing approximately 1 million data points for analysis.

Our Role

Prometheus is excited to provide such an important and varied array of services to the Simons Foundation. Our standard RexDB software platform provides an informatics infrastructure for the multiple SSC collection sites, while a customized version serves the central repository. Additionally, Prometheus staff members provide extensive project management, training, and support services.