About LEARN: Activities & Accomplishments

Rice University's Blue BioU Computing Cluster

Researchers at Rice University, in partnership with colleagues in the Texas Medical Center from MD Anderson Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, University of Houston and the Methodist Hospital System, are using the Blue BioU high-performance computing cluster and the LEARN network to conduct transformational biomedical research. The acquisition of the Blue BioU computing cluster was supported in part by an award from the IBM Shared University Research Program.

Computational research is a critical tool for scientific discovery in biomedical and bioinformatics research. Blue BioU will accelerate the progress of inquiry and discovery in a wide range of complex biological phenomena. Having access to professionally managed and operated high-performance computing resources, that are shared by colleagues across organizational boundaries, allows researchers to focus on their work without the overhead of managing computing resources.

Rice and its partners in the Texas Medical Center are using Blue BioU in the areas of computational molecular biology, simulation of super molecules, modeling nano-materials, fluid structure interactions, computational quantum chemistry, statistical genetics, bioinformatics, parallel computing, particle physics and modeling complex fluid flows. Access to Blue BioU will assist the 14 research groups who are working together to achieve critical research breakthroughs that will create new treatments and diagnostics to improve human health.