Project Description

Broadly, we can view computing associated with life sciences research as the application of advanced information technology to solve biological problems. These technologies are aimed at organizing biological data, analyzing the data, and then facilitating its interpretation. The knowledge gained from this process can then be used to build predictive models of biological systems. Thus, life sciences research needs information technologies, e.g., advanced algorithms, high performance computing, data and information management (including databases and data mining systems), and software to support communications and collaboration.

While some off-the-shelf solutions may exist for some aspects of these technologies, it is clear that new solutions are needed. This will necessitate making advances in the areas of algorithms, high performance computing, parallel computing, statistical pattern analysis, modeling, signal processing, data management, and data mining.

A computing facility (including computing cluster, storage facility, backup system and associated software) will facilitate the development, testing and deployment of these new computing technologies in support of research on a variety of life sciences problems. The facility will initially provide for research into new algorithms and methods for genomics (including analysis of microarry data), proteomics, molecular dynamics, molecular docking and analysis of magneto-encephalography (MEG) data. The facility will also support various public domain software and academic licensed software to serve needs of our research and development community. The close collaboration between chemists, biologists, mathematicians, and computer scientists using this facility will not only result in the creation of new computing and information technologies but also will directly lead to increasing our understanding of biological systems.