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Photo
by HSIMS
Dr. Gary Paterno, Terry Fox Cancer Laboratories, is named
as the principal investigator in a project funded by the
CFI. |
By Deborah Inkpen
Memorial University researchers will lead an elite group of
major players in computation-based research in Canada with the
announcement of $9.9 million for an Atlantic Canadian high performance
computing (HPC) network. The Canada Foundation for Innovation
(CFI) awarded $9,934,611 to Memorial University to establish
ACEnet, the Atlantic Computational Excellence Network (ACEnet).
Memorial is the lead institution for this network, with six
partner institutions: St. Francis Xavier University, Saint Mary’s
University, the University of New Brunswick, Mount Allison University,
the University of Prince Edward Island and Dalhousie University.
Dr. Mark Whitmore, professor in the Department of Physics and
Physical Oceanography, is the lead investigator on the project.
He feels ACEnet will transform research in Atlantic Canada and
will encourage more research collaborations among Atlantic Canada
research institutions, while attracting students and researchers
to the region.
“The network will be composed of clusters of large scale
super computers, including symmetric multi-processors,”
said Dr. Whitmore. “These clusters will allow any researcher
to undertake research from any location.”
“ACEnet will provide transformative high performance computing
capability in support of research excellence throughout Atlantic
Canada,” said Dr. Chris Loomis, vice-president (research).
ACEnet will focus on fields that require high performance computing
infrastructure and expertise, and in which there are existing
regional strengths and a commonality of interests. The network
will also be equipped with screens called access grid nodes,
which will enable joint seminars, workshops, training programs
and, perhaps most importantly, regular informal interactions
among distant researchers.
“The network can serve as is a model for how to do things
regionally,” said Dr. Whitmore. “A publicly stated
priority for our regional institutions is the determination
to forge a combined regional, internationally-recognized powerhouse
of research and development. This kind of collaborative network
opens the doors to a wider range of research activities by overcoming
the challenges of our geography.”
Other CFI awards to Memorial
In addition to the ACEnet award, CFI awarded $531,988 to Memorial
researchers for a QStar tandem mass spectrometer for the analysis
of molecular structures and interactions. This machine will
profoundly enhance the research capabilities of Memorial University's
researchers to perform innovative research, which will impact
the health, welfare, economic development and quality of life
of Canadians and the global population.
Dr. Gary Paterno, Terry Fox Cancer Laboratories, is named as
the principal investigator but he said the grant application
was done in partnership with Dr. Robert Gendron, Basic Medical
Sciences.
“This grant would not have been successful without the
cooperation and input of researchers form across the university
including Basic Medical Sciences, clinical medicine, chemistry,
biochemistry, biology and the Ocean Sciences Centre. A significant
amount of the equipment which is needed to feed into the mass
spectrometer is in place thanks to the CFI New Opportunities
grant to Drs. Robert Gendron, Jules Doré, Hélène
Paradis and Daniel MacPhee in a previous competition.”
The tandem mass spectrometer will profoundly enhance the research
capabilities of Memorial University’s researchers to perform
innovative research, which will impact the health, welfare,
economic development and quality of life of Canadians and the
global population. The tandem mass spectrometer is an instrument
that is used in many diverse research fields to identify and
characterize molecules with exquisite accuracy and from small
amounts of material. This field is now beginning to exploit
the tremendous advances and information in the area of genomics,
including the complete DNA sequence of humans and many other
organisms to address many problems in biology, biochemistry,
health and disease.
The total investment from CFI to support the three projects
was almost $11 million.
“We can say with conviction that Canada is becoming a
place where world-class researchers want to be,” said
Dr. David Strangway, president and CEO of CFI. “This investment
will further develop Canada's global reputation as a place where
outstanding research and training is being conducted.”
A list of Innovation Fund projects by university can be found
at www.innovation.ca.
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issue: April 8, 2004
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