Cray and National University of Singapore Collaborate On Advanced Bioinformatics Software for the Life Sciences.Business Editors & Technology Writers SEATTLE & SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 11, 2002 Cray SV1 Supercomputer Will Be Most Powerful Bioinformatics Resource on NUS BioGRID Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (Nasdaq:CRAY) and the National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (Abbreviation: NUS) is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered. (NUS) today announced that they are collaborating to develop advanced bioinformatics software applications for the life sciences. The NUS initiative is part of Cray's global collaboration program with leading bioinformatics research institutions. During the "BioEd2002" symposium held in Singapore, of which Cray is a key sponsor, an eight-processor Cray SV1(TM) supercomputer installed at the NUS Medical Faculty last month was officially unveiled. This resource, which is the most powerful biocomputing Biocomputing can mean at least two different things:
In addition, three NUS bioinformatics staff members completed training at Cray's U.S. facilities on programming methods to exploit the special hardware capabilities of the Cray SV1 system for advanced life sciences research. The special capabilities were originally designed into Cray(R) supercomputers for intelligence community use. The joint NUS and Cray team are now tackling an important comparative genomics Comparative genomics is the study of relationships between the genomes of different species or strains. Comparative genomics is an attempt to take advantage of the information provided by the signatures of selection to understand the function and evolutionary processes that act on problem related to an international vertebrate genome project genome project 1 The Human Genome Project, see there 2. A general term for a coordinated research initiative for mapping and sequencing the genome of any organism , with encouraging early results. Cray has joined other industry leaders in the use of Globus Toolkit The Globus Toolkit, currently at version 4, is an open source toolkit for building computing grids developed and provided by the Globus Alliance. Standards implementation The Globus Toolkit is an implementation of the following standards: "We are pleased to collaborate with the National University of Singapore as they work to advance the frontiers of life sciences research," said Cray Inc. Chairman and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Jim Rottsolk. "We look forward to supporting their exciting goals as part of Cray's long-term commitment to bioinformatics. The special capabilities of the Cray SV1 system promise to provide new insights at a growing number of leading bioinformatics research sites around the world." NUS staff said that until now, they have been running bioinformatics applications for teaching and research without the benefit of supercomputing power. "We believe that the most cost-effective way is to get the right machine to run the right software to do the thing the end user wants to achieve. With genomic databases doubling every 14 months, our bioinformaticists and life scientists can now carry out high throughput genomic analyses with supercomputing power," said Associate Professor Tan Tin Wee, Dept. of Biochemistry, NUS, who is leading this project in NUS and driving the APBioGrid initiative. NUS researchers are currently working hand in hand with Cray staff to build an appropriate suite of bioinformatics software, and will partner with collaborators internationally who are joining in the APBioGRID initiative. Dick Russell, Cray's Asia Pacific vice president, said, "Cray Japan plans to link the Cray SV1 system installed at its Tokyo data center to APBioGrid using Globus, and will pursue grid-based collaborations between researchers in Japan and Singapore." About the National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is recognized as one of the leading universities in the Asia Pacific. NUS has its roots in Singapore's first center of higher education higher education Study beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. - The Straits Settlements Straits Settlements, collective name for certain former British colonies in Southeast Asia. The three British East India Company territories of Pinang, Singapore, and Malacca (see Melaka) were given a unified administration in 1826 and called the Straits Settlements. and Federated Connected and treated as one. See federated database and federated directories. Malay States Malay States: see Malaysia. Government Medical School, founded in 1905. NUS supports Singapore's development as a knowledge-based, high-technology economy through R & D activities. NUS also provides special programs with leading international tertiary institutions including MIT MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Harvard, Stanford and Johns Hopkins Noun 1. Johns Hopkins - United States financier and philanthropist who left money to found the university and hospital that bear his name in Baltimore (1795-1873) Hopkins 2. . See http://www.nus.edu.sg for more information about NUS. About Cray Inc. Cray is the premier provider of supercomputing solutions for customers' most challenging scientific and engineering problems. Cray expects to be the leading supplier of supercomputing power for advanced bioinformatics work. The Cray SV1 product line was named "Best Supercomputer" in 2001, 2000 and 1999 by the readership of Scientific Computing & Instrumentation magazine, and helped make Cray Inc. number one in the latest rankings of supercomputer performance reported in November 2001 by industry analyst firm IDC. Go to www.cray.com for more information about the company. Cray is a registered trademark, and Cray SV1 is a trademark, of Cray Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
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