Institute for Systems Biology partners with Arctic Supercomputing CenterSeattle 31 July 2001 Supercomputers that have helped to analyse global climate change, space physics and ocean currents will be harnessed to solve equally intense problems in biology under a new partnership between the Institute for Systems Biology and the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The affiliation will support research related to genes and proteins in which extremely large datasets will be analyzed to better understand diseases and identify potential treatments and preventative strategies.
The Institute and ARSC are linked via an extremely high-bandwidth connection
that allows researchers at both centers to quickly transfer massive amounts of
information over the thousands of miles between Fairbanks and Seattle-and
compute as though they were located next-door.
The supercomputers operated by ARSC provide the memory and processing power to
tackle problems that are too large to be handled by the average desktop machine.
In addition, ARSC provides the data storage resources needed for enormous
volumes of information, with capacity in excess of 300 terabytes.
The ARSC, located on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus, provides
computational resources to scientists and engineers within the University, the
Department of Defense and other academic and government agencies. Founded in
1993, the center supports a 32-processor Cray SV1ex, a 272-processor Cray T3E
and a 200-processor IBM SP. In addition, the center supports two StorageTek
robotic tape silos and a variety of networking and visualization hardware and
software. The ARSC staff includes experts in high performance computing,
networking, visualization and data storage resources.
The Institute for Systems Biology was founded in January 2000 by Hood, Dr. Ruedi
Aebersold and Dr. Alan Aderem as a public research institute devoted to systems
biology, an emerging field made possible by rapid advancements in genomic,
proteomic and computer technologies. The Institute, which has grown to more than
170 staff, is also committed to pioneering new approaches to science education
and increasing public awareness of biotechnology issues.
Hood, who co-developed the automated genetic sequencing technology that enabled
the Human Genome Project, was among a small group of scientists who first
advocated for the international effort in 1985. Aebersold, who is widely
recognized for his work in analytical protein biochemistry and proteomics, leads
a research group at the ISB that is focused on developing new methods and
technologies for understanding the structure, function and control of complex
biological systems. Aderem, a prominent immunologist and cell biologist and
pioneer in the study of innate immunity, has provided scientists with
fundamental insights into the functioning of the macrophage.
More information on The Institute for Systems Biology and the Arctic Region
Supercomputing Center is available at
www.systemsbiology.org and www.arsc.edu.
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