Collaborative Research: ABI Development: Building A Community Resource for Neuroscientists

加州大学圣地亚哥分校和耶鲁大学被授予合作赠款，以开发一个神经科学网关(NSG)，该网关将促进神经科学家访问和使用高性能计算(HPC)资源。细胞和网络的计算建模已经成为神经科学研究的重要组成部分，研究人员正在使用模型来解决日益复杂的问题，例如大规模网络模型和高维参数空间的优化或探索。NSG将通过降低或消除目前使调查人员难以使用HPC资源的行政和技术障碍来促进此类研究。它将为神经科学用户提供计算机时间，通过管理和技术上的简化程序，以及一个简单的基于网络门户的环境，用于上传模型、指定HPC作业参数、查询运行作业状态和接收作业完成通知，以及检索和存储输出数据。核供应国集团门户的网址为http://www.nsgportal.org.它还将为神经科学家提供一个社区论坛，让他们合作和共享数据。NSG架构将透明地将用户作业分配给NSF超级计算机中心提供的适当HPC资源。NSG团队将与神经模拟软件的开发人员合作，在HPC机器上以最佳方式安装、测试和基准测试这些应用程序，并允许开发人员在发布之前测试新版本。该项目将产生变革性的影响，使计算神经科学界的成员能够访问HPC资源，用于涉及计算密集型模拟(通常是大型神经网络)的研究和教学。否则，这些研究人员和学生中的许多人会发现，如果不是不可能的话，实施和研究超过或超过他们直接控制的存储和速度能力的模型是非常困难的。计算建模为湿法实验室或实验基础设施资源有限的机构的学生和研究人员提供了参与前沿科学的机会。这样的项目有助于获得HPC资源，通过减少研究基础设施的资金障碍，使科学参与民主化。NSG将通过消除许多人的进步障碍，包括历史上代表性不足的群体，使学生和研究人员能够获得HPC资源，因此与极少数拥有HPC资源的人相比，他们处于显著的劣势。该项目的绩效指标将通过积极参与暑期培训学校和以前受过指导的女性和少数群体学生网络，向代表性不足的少数群体科学家和为少数群体服务的机构宣传NSG，其中一些人现在受雇于少数群体服务机构。

The University of California-San Diego and Yale University are awarded collaborative grants to develop a Neuroscience Gateway (NSG) that will facilitate access and use of high performance computing (HPC) resources by neuroscientists. Computational modeling of cells and networks has become an essential part of neuroscience research, and investigators are using models to address problems of ever increasing complexity, e.g. large scale network models and optimization or exploration of high dimensional parameter spaces. The NSG will catalyze such research by lowering or eliminating the administrative and technical barriers that currently make it difficult for investigators to use HPC resources. It will offer computer time to neuroscience users through an administratively and technologically streamlined process with a simple web portal-based environment for uploading models, specifying HPC job parameters, querying running job status and receiving job completion notices, and retrieving and storing output data. The URL of the NSG portal is http://www.nsgportal.org. It will also provide a community forum for neuroscientists to collaborate and share data. The NSG architecture will transparently distribute user jobs to appropriate HPC resources provided by NSF supercomputer centers. The NSG team will collaborate with developers of neural simulation software to optimally install, test, and benchmark these applications on HPC machines, and allow developers to test new versions before release. This project will have a transformative impact by enabling access by members of the computational neuroscience community to HPC resources for research and instruction involving compute-intensive simulations (typically large neural networks). Many of these investigators and students would otherwise find it very difficult, if not impossible, to implement and study models that press or exceed the storage and speed capabilities that are under their direct control. Computational modeling offers opportunities for students and researchers at institutions with limited resources for wet lab or experimental infrastructure to participate in leading edge science. Projects such as this, which facilitate access to HPC resources, democratize participation in science by mitigating the financial barriers to research infrastructure. The NSG will enable students and researchers, who lack access to HPC resources and are thus at a significant disadvantage compared to very few who have it, by removing the barriers for progress for many including historically underrepresented groups. The PIs of this project will target the promotion of the NSG to underrepresented minority scientists and minority serving institutions through active participation in summer training academies and a network of previously mentored female and minority students, some now employed at minority serving institutions.