Systems and methods for automating RNA expression calls in a cancer prediction pipeline

Systems and methods are provided for performing quality control analysis. The method obtains, in electronic form, a batch dataset comprising, for each respective sample in a batch of samples, a corresponding plurality of sequence reads derived from the respective sample by targeted or whole transcriptome RNA sequencing and corresponding metadata for the respective sample. The method determines for the batch dataset a cohort-matched reference batch, where the cohort-matched reference batch is balanced for tissue site, tumor purity, cancer type, sequencer identity, or date sequenced. The method performs one or more global batch quality control tests on the batch dataset using at least the cohort-matched reference batch. The method removes respective samples from the batch dataset that fail any one of the one or more global batch quality control tests or flagging for manual inspection respective samples that fail any one of the one or more global batch quality control tests.