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New Supercomputer Brings Unique Opportunities For Swedish Brain Research |
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New Supercomputer Brings Unique Opportunities For Swedish Brain Research
Approximately 127 million people in Europe are suffering from some
kind of brain disease or injury. With the long term goal to improve
diagnostics and find new therapies in their sights, the Stockholm Brain
Institute (SBI) and IBM have embarked on a partnership that gives
Swedish brain researchers access to a unique supercomputer. The
computer system Blue Gene is the first of its kind in the Nordic region
and will be installed in the Parallel Computer Centre at the Royal
Institute of Technology. The joint project, which will cost an
estimated SKr 20 million, was presented today at a press conference in
Stockholm.
"The combination of such enormous computer capacity and a
high-resolution PET camera is unique in the world," says Hans
Forssberg, Vice President of Karolinska Institutet and representative
of the SBI. "Add to this the proximity to patients and clinical
practice and we get entirely new opportunities for brain research from
both a Swedish and international perspective."
The SBI was set up by Karolinska Institutet, the Royal Institute of
Technology and Stockholm University to promote cutting-edge research
into the cognitive functions of the brain, such as memory and learning
or emotions, action and perception. Such research is attacked from
three angles: development and ageing, gender differences, and brain
diseases (Alzheimer's, schizophrenia or ADHD). Important tools for
scientists working on these areas include high-performance
computational resources for simulation and image analysis.
The SBI was also established to team up with industry to drive the
development of innovation projects concerning medicines, advanced
computer technology, memory research, medical image processing, and the
rehabilitation of people with brain injuries.
"The purpose of Blue Gene will be to give scientists extreme
computational power to help them develop a deeper understanding of
brain function so that they can improve the diagnosis and treatment of
diseases of the nerve system and the brain," says Ajay Royyuru, head of
the Computational Biology Centre at IBM Research. "Blue Gene has
established itself as the world's leading supercomputer architecture,
and suits the needs of the SBI down to the ground."
"We're also creating two new research posts one at IBM Research outside
New York and one at the SBI in Stockholm," he continues. "These
researchers will be developing new algorithms and methods for making
better use of Blue Gene's capacity."
Also involved in the Blue Gene project are Astra Zeneca and the OECD's
International Neuroinformatics Coordination Facility (INCF).
KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET
SE-171 77 Stockholm
http://info.ki.se/index_se.html
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