Campus News

Grant to improve biologists’ computing

A new grant from the National Science Foundation will more than quadruple the computing power available to UGA biologists.

The $796,822 grant from the NSF, matched by more than $300,000 from the University of Georgia Research Foundation, was awarded to the UGA Institute of Bioinformatics to provide a powerful new Linux computer cluster-along with substantially more storage space-to be housed at the Research Computing Center.

“The new cluster will provide the backbone to support not only the substantial needs of faculty in the institute but to encourage collaborations among biological researchers across campus,” said David Lee, vice president for research at UGA. “We also expect the new acquisition will enrich the educational experience of graduate students in bioinformatics and computational biology.”

Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary science that uses computational and mathematical techniques to address biological problems.

The IOB’s 17 participating laboratories represent a group of 60-plus scientists with a common mission. Members, who have submitted joint research and training grants, organized new courses and co-taught existing courses, include some 74 graduate students and 52 postdoctoral research scholars. They will constitute the first group of users.