Acquisition of Computing Infrastructure for Bioinformatics Research and Education

收购生物信息学研究和教育的计算基础设施波士顿大学的翁志平博士已获得一笔赠款，用于建立一个高性能、高成本效益的计算基础设施，以支持该大学生物信息学计划的研究和教育需求。翁博士和这笔拨款的六名合作研究人员构成了该项目的计算核心。他们的研究横跨结构蛋白质组学、功能基因组学和基因表达/调控网络。他们每天都在处理所有已知的序列、所有可用的基因组、所有已知的蛋白质结构、生物体中所有基因的转录水平等。他们的计算需求远远超过了目前可用的设施。波士顿大学是首批设立生物信息学研究生学位课程的大学之一。该计划目前由NSF IGERT赠款资助，并一直在迅速增长。该项目的大量学生对计算资源有很大的需求。这笔NSF赠款将允许购买波士顿大学致力于生物信息学研究和教育活动的计算机集群。该集群将具有以下组件：一个具有1 TB存储的文件服务器、一个具有双Intel 1 GHz处理器、2 GB RAM和每个节点106 GB存储的80节点计算服务器、一个备份文件服务器和一个Web服务器。一个快速的千兆位网络将连接文件服务器和计算服务器。这样的集群与生物信息学研究项目的高通量、大规模性质非常吻合。计算机集群将能够支持生物分子系统的创新研究，包括功能基因组学、结构蛋白质组学和细胞系统分析。它将使教师、博士后研究人员、研究生和本科生能够解决需要数月CPU时间的研究问题，而这些问题无法在现有设施的限制下得到解决。它还将大大加强我们在波士顿大学的生物信息学项目，该项目致力于培养新一代科学家和生物技术行业领导者，能够实施高性能的计算解决方案来解决21世纪的生物问题。

Acquisition of Computing Infrastructure for Bioinformatics Research and EducationA grant has been awarded to Dr. Zhiping Weng at Boston University to establish a high-performance, cost-effective computing infrastructure to support the research and educational needs of the University's Bioinformatics Program. Dr. Weng and six co-investigators of this grant form the computational core of the program. Their research spans structural proteomics, functional genomics and gene expression/regulatory networks. On a daily basis they work with all known sequences, all available genomes, all known protein structures, transcriptional levels of all genes in an organism, and the like. Their computational needs far exceed currently available facilities. Boston University is among the first to establish a graduate degree program in Bioinformatics. The program is currently funded by an NSF IGERT grant and has been growing very rapidly. The large number of students in the program places great demand on computing resources.This NSF grant will allow for the purchase of a computer cluster dedicated to Bioinformatics research and educational activities at Boston University. The cluster will have the following components: a file server with 1 terabyte storage, an 80-node compute server with dual Intel 1GHz processors, 2 GB RAM, and 106 GB storage per node, a backup file server and a web server. A fast giga-bit network will connect the file server and the compute server. Such a cluster coincides ideally with the high-throughput, large-scale nature of Bioinformatics research programs.The computer cluster will be able to support innovative research in biomolecular systems including functional genomics, structural proteomics, and cell systems analysis. It will enable the faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students to attack research questions that require months of CPU time, and which could not otherwise be addressed within the constraints of currently available facilities. It will also greatly strengthen our Bioinformatics Program at Boston University, which is dedicated to training a new generation of scientists and biotech industry leaders capable of implementing high-performance computational solutions to the biological problems of the 21st century.