The establishment of a center that will combine biocomputing resources
at three University of Nebraska universities was approved today by the
N.U. Board of Regents.
The Nebraska Informatics Center for Life Sciences (NICLS) will facilitate
the integration of information science, computer science and life sciences
to understand the organization of complex biological systems. It will combine
the biocomputing resources at the University of Nebraska Medical Center,
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Biocomputing resources include computer clusters, software and databases
on biologically important molecules. The NICLS will provide collaborative
research opportunities and education in the use of biocomputing tools for
faculty, staff and students.
Simon Sherman, Ph.D., an associate professor at the Eppley Institute
for Research in Cancer & Allied Diseases at UNMC, will direct the center.
He will be supported by two deputy directors, Hesham Ali, Ph.D., professor
of computer science at UNO, and Ruben Donis, DVM, Ph.D., associate professor
of virology at UNL.
At present, none of the Nebraska universities can afford to have access
to all of these advanced technologies on their own, Dr. Sherman said.
By integrating our resources, Nebraska will have the chance to be more
competitive in the research arena and for funding opportunities as well.
Dr. Sherman said informatics for the life sciences is a field that deals
with biological and chemical information, data and knowledge, along with
storage, retrieval and management to allow for optimal use for problem
solving and decision-making. The field has arisen from a confluence of
the life sciences, computer sciences and mathematical sciences.
The main component of the NICLS is a new computing infrastructure for
the storage, retrieval and processing of large sources of biological and
chemical data. The infrastructure will be built on the basis of grid computing
technology and will allow researchers and students from the universities
to use the shared biocomputing resources directly from their workplaces
by logging on to the shared system. Users will access these resources via
the Internet.
Dr. Sherman said the Nebraska universities previously were maintaining
and using only their own research databases and scientific equipment. This
new infrastructure will eliminate the duplication of work as well as the
cost of purchasing and maintaining cutting-edge equipment.
The center also will provide maintenance for the hardware and software
of the system, educational opportunities for students and faculty as well
as a forum for research collaboration among the three participating universities.
Formation of the center will be funded through a $2.4 million EPSCoR
(Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) grant. EPSCoR
grant programs are available to states with smaller federal research budgets
and are awarded to enable those states to be more competitive at the national
level.