II-NEW: Acquisition of BCI - A Biomedical Computing Infrastructure

The goal of this project is to acquire and integrate Biomedical Computing Infrastructure (BCI) capable of processing the increasingly high-resolution, large-volume, and high-frequency digital content generated within biomedical applications. The BCI will comprise: a large NVIDIA processor-based Tesla cluster with double precision Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) along with a multi-node NEC Nehalem-based cluster to drive the Tesla cluster via Infiniband; large shared memory multi-core computer nodes; and a large parallel high-performance solid-state disk farm. Intellectual Merit: While parallel- and grid-computing is relatively well understood, effective use of a cluster of massively multi-core GPUs with large memory, and fast disk access has as yet been minimally explored. Thus, the BCI seeks to facilitate deployment of this transformational computational paradigm in ongoing biomedical research projects between the University at Buffalo, SUNY and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. These projects encompass the gamut of biomedical computing from: virtual surgery and intervention; image segmentation and labeling; computer tomography and reconstruction; imaging biomarkers and computer-aided diagnosis; to nuclear molecular imaging. Broader Impact: This BCI empowers a large group of multidisciplinary researchers to unlock the full potential of the digital content in the biomedical enterprise as well as attain faster and more reliable transfer of science from the lab to the clinic. In addition, a vibrant dissemination and outreach effort has been planned around the BCI, involving classes, tutorials and workshops, to engage students and researchers of all ages. Many of these activities forming the foundation of the team?s outreach efforts, ranging from the high-school summer institutes to conference workshops, have already been initiated and the web-portal documents these efforts (http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~vipin/nsf/cri2009/).