BlueCryo Image Processing Computing Cluster

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Imaging biomolecules at the molecular level to visualize their atomic details is essential to understand how they function in health and disease. Among the techniques capable of imaging biomolecules, electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) has emerged as exceptionally powerful. New direct electron detectors, better microscopes and powerful processing software for the images recorded with this new hardware has led to a genuine revolution in cryo-EM. With these advances it is now possible to determine macromolecular structures at near-atomic resolution by cryo-EM, revealing essential molecular detail. High-resolution structural insight into molecular complexes, and also entire cells and even tissues, provide vital understanding of the molecular mechanisms of life. Until recently, high-resolution cryo-EM was not possible in the South-West due to the lack of a suitable cryo-microscope. In 2017, we answer this unmet need by opening a South West Regional Facility for High-Resolution Cryo-EM at University of Bristol, equipped with state-of-the-art hardware. This will enable us to collect several terabytes of images or movies per day of successful data collection. To fully exploit the potential of this facility, and to maintain and increase our competitive posture, we must complement the state-of-the-art cryo-microscope with equally powerful high-performance computing (HPC) for image processing. Processing of the terabytes of images is so computation-intense that existing HPC infrastructure can by no means match the computation requirements of the new EM user community.Therefore, to resolve this bottleneck, we ask here for funding of a computing cluster dedicated to image processing of cryo-EM data sets (BlueCryo). BlueCryo will enable researchers at University of Bristol to determine important structures by single particle cryo-EM and tomography, to interpret these structures using cutting-edge molecular modelling and to analyse the functional dynamics of the biological systems by state-of-the-art simulation methods. The BlueCryo HPC cluster will support the work of many researchers to accelerate their ambitious research, many of them funded by the BBSRC. The new resource will be instrumental for the discovery of new mechanisms of gene expression, to study protein transport into and across membranes, to understand the mechanism of secretion systems which play a crucial role in bacterial infections, and to illuminate a wide range of other important molecular processes responsible for biological function (and malfunction) in our cells. Moreover, the HPC cluster will critically support rational design of entirely novel proteins and peptide assemblies with tailor-made function, in vaccinology, drug delivery and drug discovery. Importantly, the new BlueCryo computing resource, together with the cryo-microscope, will further entice researchers from diverse life-science areas to partake in the cryo-EM revolution and generate new and exciting research synergies all across the South-West and beyond.Our work has broad implications for multiple areas within the BBSRC remit including synthetic biology, basic bioscience underpinning normal human and animal health and infection. The projects cover areas of direct relevance to BBSRC remit and strategy. The proposal includes researchers with a strong track record of BBSRC funding. Early career researchers and a re-entry fellow are part of our team. Clearly, the computing cluster will not only decisively advance the research here proposed, and generate new programmes, synergies and collaborations. It will also enable us to engage in many other important scientific questions and to train new users and students. Thus, we expect to derive significant additional use in many areas of basic and applied research at University of Bristol, the South-West and beyond.