FROM THE ASSOCIATE PROVOST FOR RESEARCH

FROM THE ASSOCIATE PROVOST FOR RESEARCH

Starting with this issue, every month Research INKlings will lead off with special announcements from the Office of the Associate Provost for Research, Dr. Stephen M. Lanier.

Computational Biology Resource

As part of an ongoing evaluation of University Research Resource Facilities (URRFs) supported by the Office of the Associate Provost for Research, Biomolecular Computing Resource Center that has served the MUSC community for many years is being restructured to meet evolving research needs. The strategic objective of this initiative is to address rapidly increasing needs for computational resources.

An Oversight Team is guiding the restructuring process. Members include Scott Argraves, Craig Beeson, Mark Bulson, Chris Davies, Starr Hazard, Xinghua Lu and Roger Poston.

A major goal is to enhance and expand computational resources that can support application of advanced computer algorithms to biological problems. The approach includes establishment of a local parallel computing cluster, access to additional computing resources, bio-database development, and programming tools to support software development.

A first step toward developing a critical level of local computational power was acquisition and installation of a 16 node 132 CPU computing cluster combined with multi terabit storage capacity. This LINUX-based system will supporting bio-data analysis with applications in drug discovery, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, DNA microarray evaulation, bioinformatics, image analysis and molecular modeling. This university resource will run open source and commercial software as approved by the Oversight Team. The Office of the Chief Information Officer and Information Systems will house and manage the system hardware.

We expect the system to be operational in November 2007. More information will be posted on the following web site http://bcr.musc.edu/ . Individuals with needs in this area should contact Dr. Starr Hazard at hazards@musc.edu.

MUSC Office of Scientific Editing and Publications

As part of a broad effort to address evolving needs of the research community, the Associate Provost for Research has established the MUSC Office of Scientific Editing and Publications (OSEP) under the direction of Jennifer Schnellmann, PhD, ELS. This office will provide support to augment manuscript and grant writing skills for MUSC faculty, trainees and staff, and to assist in increasing public awareness of MUSC research programs and achievements through development of publications, documents and web-based communications.

This office is part of the resources offered to the MUSC community through the Center for Academic Excellence Writing Center and is available to faculty, staff and postdoctoral fellows from all colleges, departments and centers.

OSEP offers services that complement the Office of Research Development, which focuses on proposal development, grantsmanship consultation, funding opportunity identification, supporting information, and management of complex projects such as center grants, training grants, and shared instrumentation. OSEP services include: editing scientific manuscripts and investigator-initiated research grants (e.g., R01, R03, R21); editing and assisting with the production of scientific posters and slide presentations; and developing figures, tables and graphic aids to enhance presentation of complex scientific concepts and data.

As of Oct. 1, the office is located in the Center for Academic Excellence, Room 201, Education Services/Library Building, schnellj@musc.edu.