The available amount of data in bioinformatics is huge. One way to characterize for example protein function is to perform large-scale analyses on the available data. These analyses are to an increasing extent dependent on fast computers. The demands are similar for most bioinformatics groups within the Nordic countries and it therefore makes sense to coordinate common efforts. Presently, bioinformatics resources are available within each country but with limited coordination between the countries. With a Nordic bioinformatics grid infrastructure heavy computational tasks can be performed faster and more efficiently.
Upon each new release of the databases and new genomes, the bioinformatics community wishes to perform these analyses as quickly as possible. There are compute intensive jobs also in the areas of structure prediction and protein dynamics. A grid solution is then an efficient way to make enough number of processor units available.
There are several challenges involved with the establishment of a Nordic bioinformatics grid infrastructure. First, there are large amounts of data that need to be synchronised between the nodes. Second, several of the bioinformatics programs need to be rewritten/optimised for a grid environment. Furthermore, compatibility issues and standardised protocol for input/output need to be considered.
Participants
- Linköping University (Sweden)
- Stockholm University (Sweden)
- SNIC (Sweden)
- NSC (Sweden)
- CSC (Finland)
- Bergen Centre for Computational Science (Norway)
Further groups might be added during the project.
People
- Bengt Persson (principal investigator)
- Olli Tourunen (developer)
Meetings
Documents & presentations
- 2007-09-26 BioGrid status, Olli Tourunen (ppt,pdf)
BioGrid
