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A Better Way To Science

SITAPRIYA MOORTHI

STAFF SCIENTIST

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF DATA OFFICER (OCDO)

FRED HUTCH

9TH, APRIL 2025

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Land Acknowledgement

Fred Hutch Cancer Center acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.

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About Me

The Wet Lab Scientist

Stony Brook University, New York

    • Cancer Biologist
    • Cell culture, molecular and cellular assays
    • Defined protocols & practices

The Dry Lab Scientist

Alice Berger, Gavin Ha, Amy Paguirigan, Fred Hutch

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    • Cancer Genomics
    • Patient & research data & bioinformatics
    • Less structured/ many “right ways” to do things

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The Staff Scientist

The OCDO, Fred Hutch

    • Data Science + Support
    • Help build tools for scientists and facilitate collaborations
    • Building reproducible systems

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My Misconceptions About

Open Science

Open science meant all my data, workflow and documents HAD to be shared with the world.

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Open Science is only for those who code.

Open science was too complicated and time-consuming.

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Taking Stock

Collaborative up-skilling

Reproducibility

Overview

My Takeaways From Openscapes

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Discussing Examples

Here is where you will find interaction prompts!

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ME

How did I benefit

US

How did it help my team/collaborators

THEM

How is it helpful to people who don't know me

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Taking Stock

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Identify what you have & what you need.

Be deliberate.

And write it down.

    • It is often an undervalued exercise
    • It's a norm in the “wet-lab” world not so much in the “dry-lab” world

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Taking Stock

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The Openscapes Pathway

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Taking Stock

In what ways do you/your team take stock?

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Recognized that I don’t have a system for coding → GitHub Repo for data analysis

Where does different data go? → Defined a protocol for where different data should go

No system in place for sharing our publication data

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Collaborative up-skilling

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When you take stock of what you have ...

You identify skills on your team you can leverage

    • Individual skills often “fly under the radar”.
    • Learning from a colleague is often the most productive way to learn.

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Share a skill you’ve learned from another team member!

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How can we manage our work on PROOF → GitHub Projects

Shout out to the OCDO Data Science and Software Team

How can I better manage my work? → Sprint planning

Thanks to the Project Managers @ OCDO

Managing work requests from others → REDCap-based request forms for cBioPortal

Leveraging my experience using RedCap from my post-doc project

Collaborative up-skilling

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Reproducibility

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If you do it once you should be able to do it again!

... and so should anyone else

    • Reproducibility encourages you to be organized.
    • It encourages you to work in a way that can benefit more than just you.
    • Allows people to reiterate and advance the work.

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Reproducibility

What would you like to make more reproducible?

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Building testing frameworks for our software tools

Make sure my code does what it says→ Code reviews

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Documenting contributor guide like our WILDS Contributor Guide

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In Conclusion

    • Create space and talk to each other

Seaside chats don't have to stop with this program.

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    • Build proactive practices, not reactive ones.

Think about what you might need and make a system... Starting small is a start!

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    • There is no such thing as too much documentation.

Someone will always be thankful that you did.

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    • Always build systems that someone else can better.

Because there is rarely anything that is perfect.

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Thank You

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