UK Crop Diversity Bioinformatics Resource

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We are requesting a High-Performance Computing (HPC) cluster that will be dedicated to support and expand the work that of a consortium of six leading UK research organisations with a focus on the characterisation and utilisation of novel genetic diversity for both the improvement of current crops as well as the breeding of novel varieties. The platform will be open to researchers at the participating institutions and their extensive network of collaborators. We will also develop and deploy common genomics workflows relevant to the common interests of the partners in crop diversity informatics. Developments in sequencing and genotyping technologies together with advances in environmental monitoring and characterisation are leading to rapid changes in the opportunities that are available to evaluate and utilise genetic diversity in crop plants and their wild relatives to adapt to the changing landscape of agriculture. This is driven by the increasing impact of climate change as well as by evolving agricultural practices and commodity demand. UK Research Organisations host a wide range of key expertise and information resources that have the potential to play a critical role in ensuring that this potential is fully realised. A major factor in developing the research infrastructure to support and nurture such activities is the provision of access to suitable computational resources that are tailored to the key data resources and analytical tools that that play a central role. A consortium of UK Research Organisations including NIAB, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBGKew), the Natural History Museum (NHM), the James Hutton Institute (JHI), Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh (RBGE), and Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) have identified a need for additional computing resources beyond what they already host individually, centred on BBSRC-funded work around crop diversity. An high-performance computing (HPC) resource focused on the common needs of our organisations and tailored to the software and data resources which are relevant to this mission will deliver efficiencies in the use of resources, both in terms of computing hardware and systems administration. In addition, it will act as a focus for sharing data, developing new methods of analysis and delivering training, and a platform for developing new collaborative programmes of innovative science. Within the partner organisations alone, the platform will support the work of more than 400 scientists including a large proportion of early career researchers and PhD students. We propose to host the facility at JHI's data centre.