Overview
Under the Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative, The University of Melbourne will host a $100 million supercomputing program and facility, with $50 million provided by the State Government. The goal of the initiative is for Victoria to retain its standing and enhance its leadership in world life sciences. This will lead to major improvements in public health outcomes in the areas such as cancer, cardiovascular and neurological disease, chronic inflammatory diseases, bone diseases and diabetes.
The initiative will involve:
- the establishment and operation of a Life Sciences Computation Centre (LSCC) to provide computational life science expertise to the institutions throughout the Parkville Precinct;
- the establishment and operation of a Peak Computing Facility (PCF) accessible to life sciences researchers from the Parkville Precinct, Monash University and other Victorian research institutes;
- collaborative research programs supporting the effective use of the PCF
- a skills development and training program to develop future computational life science expertise for research and industry; and
- an outreach program to highlight the benefits of the initiative to the public, industry and government.
The Peak Computing Facility will plan the development of the world's most powerful life-science dedicated supercomputer and implement it over five years. The Life Sciences Computation Centre will undertake the peak computing operations and provide computational expertise to the life-science institutions throughout the Parkville Precinct. Researchers from the Parkville Precinct, Monash University and other Victorian research institutions will have access to the Peak Computing Facility, encouraging a collaborative approach to medical research.
The Research Need
Underpinning life science research are core research capabilities or platforms which help us to understand the structure and interaction of molecules, complex biological systems (from proteins, cells, tissues, organs, up to organisms), the nature of disease and more. Examples of technology driven platforms include medical imaging, genomics, structural biology, integrated biological systems, bioinformatics and health informatics. Such platforms provide powerful and versatile tools for life sciences researchers and incorporate technology, facilities, technical and research expertise.
Significant technological advancements are occurring in each of these capabilities. Such advancements include higher quality medical imaging, increasingly cost effective gene sequencing, improving access to protein crystallography facilities and advances in computer simulation and modelling. These advancements are not only driving the frontier of research but are also providing major computing challenges. Significant expertise and computational infrastructure is required to take full advantage of these opportunities. Computational expertise is especially important to allow improvements in technology to flow through to research outcomes.