Who are we?
Creative Data Solutions (CDS) is a Vanderbilt University Shared Resource. Created in August 2015, it provides bioinformatics and informatics services to the research community at Vanderbilt and beyond. Unlike many other cores that offer physical products, assays or equipment time, CDS is 100% service-based. It merges scientific experience with technical known-how to tackle basic research and clinical projects that require skills in data management, processing and analysis.
CDS is housed in the Vanderbilt Center for Stem Cell Biology. Directed by Dr. Mark Magnuson, the VCSCB facilitates studies of the basic biology of stem and progenitor cells through partnerships with the Program in Developmental Biology (PDB) and the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. Notably, the Vanderbilt Genome Editing Resource (VGER) is also part of the VCSCB, and we enjoy interacting with them!
Contact UsOur Mission
Our mission is to provide bioinformatics and informatics research services.
Our Vision
Our vision is to have a measurable impact on the ability of research investigators to both publish their work and obtain new funding.
Our Core Values
- Promote bioinformatics and advanced computation to augment our ability to achieve a solutions-driven approach to life science problems.
- Maintain a strong informatics skill-set necessary for unraveling and integrating datasets originating from various sources and technologies.
- Developing visually pleasing and understandable mixed-media and visual solutions, in order to best communicate data and resulting knowledge.
Technologies
Below is a small sampling of technologies we use:
After Effects, Amazon Web Services (Cloud), Annotare, Apache, ArrayExpress, Atlassian Tools, Bioconductor, Biopython, Bowtie, Camtasia Studio, CSS, Cytoscape, DAVID, Excel, Gene2MeSH, GO, Google Products, Graph-ML, HTML5, Javascript, jQuery, MIAME, MySQL, NCBI/Entrez API, OpenRefine, Oracle Database, Perl, Photoshop, PHP, PostgreSQL, Premiere, Processing, Python, R, Sketchup, SOAP, Softimage, XML, yEDOur Team
Our team is growing and we also have strategic partners within VUIT, VTS and other Vanderbilt resources like ACCRE.
J.P. Cartailler, Ph.D.
Director, CDS
2015-current
Di Wu, Ph.D.
Senior Bioinformatics Analyst / Staff Scientist
2026-current
Nathan Casteel
Linux System Administrator
(Strategic Partner / VUIT)
CDS Alumni
- Alexander Lin (2023-2026) - Undergraduate Student (Workflow/DSL programming, developed python implement of peakScout, which is CDS's first paper - good luck at MIT!)
- Shristi Shrestha, Ph.D. (2020-2025) - Bioinformatics Analyst & Staff Scientist (Islet biologist, bioinformatics, analyst extraordinaire - Best wishes moving forward!)
- Matthew Cottam, Ph.D. (2022-2023) - Bioinformatics Analyst / Research Associate (Too short of a tenure, but great work was done. Good luck!)
- Nilai Vermula (2019-2019) - Undergraduate Student with Magnuson Lab collab (iterativeWGCNA refactoring, gene network analysis - talented SDE!)
- Gregory Baboolal (2015-2016) - Senior Application Engineer (Labnodes, PHP, Postgres, and more - Good luck in your next adventure!)
- Jill Lindner (2015-2016) - Application Support Analyst (Labnodes and CDS early days!)
Scientific Advisory Committee
We are very thankful for our the feedback and support from our faculty committee members.
Active Committee Members
- Kathy Delgiorno, Ph.D. (2024-current) - Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
- Taha Jan, M.D. (2024-current) - Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Cell and Developmental Biology
- Borden Lacy, Ph.D. (2026-current) - Professor, Departments of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology and Biochemistry, Director, Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology
- Douglas Mitchell, Ph.D. (2026-current) - Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry, William Kelly Warren Sr. Chair in Biochemistry, Director, Vanderbilt Institute for Chemical Biology
- Jerod Denton, Ph.D. (2026-current) - Professor of Anesthesiology, Department of Pharmacology
- Emily Hodges, Ph.D. (2026-current) - Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt Genetics Institute
- Colleen Niswender, Ph.D. (2026-current) - Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Warren Director of Molecular Pharmacology, Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery
Past Committee Members
- Rafael Arrojo e Drigo, Ph.D. (2022-2026) - Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
- Ron Emeson, Ph.D. (2019-2026) - Joel G. Hardman Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Associate Director, Vanderbilt Brain Institute
- Brent Ferrell, M.D. (2022-2026) - Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
- Thomas Heiner (2024-2026) - Relationship Manager, Customer Engagement, Information Technology | Vanderbilt University
- Mark Magnuson M.D. (2019-2026) - Louise B. McGavock Professor, Department of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics, Director, Center for Stem Cell Biology
- Al Powers, M.D. (2019-2026) - Joe C. Davis Professor, Department of Medicine, Director, Diabetes Research and Training Center
- Roy Zent, M.D., Ph.D. (2023-2026) - Thomas F. Frist Sr., Professor of Medicine
- Chris Wright, D. Phil. (2024-2025) - Louise B. McGavock Chair, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, Chair of Faculty Advisory Committee for Creative Data Solutions (2024-2025)
- Kathy Gould, Ph.D. (2019-2023) - Department of Cell and Developmental Biology
- Jonathan Kropski, M.D. (2023-2023) - Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
- Ken Lau, Ph.D. (2019-2022) - Department of Cell & Developmental Biology
- Vivian Gama, Ph.D. (2019-2021) - Department of Cell and Developmental Biology
- Ed Levine, Ph.D. (2019-2021) - Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences