Collaborative Mini-Grids for Prediction of Viral RNA Structure and Evolution

The Collaborative Mini-Grids for Prediction of Viral RNA Structure and Evolution project (in short: Mini-Grid project) aims at designing a voluntary, peer-to-peer software architecture for executing parallelized bioinformatics algorithms, which makes research into RNA-based diseases like HIV, SARS, and bird flu more efficient than with current approaches. The project also studies how users can become aware of such an infrastructure, and designs the future technologies for biologist to use in the lab. The project is interdisciplinary and involves researchers from computer science, bioinformatics, molecular biology, and nanotechnology. The partners involve the The IT University of Copenhagen, the Department of Molecular Biology, at the interdisciplinary nanoscience centre (iNANO) at Aarhus University (AU), and CLC Bio.

The research done in the Mini-Grid project is divided into 4 interdependent research strands:
The Mini-Grid Framework - this research is focusing on creating a runtime infrastructure and programming framework for distribution of computational tasks in a local area network. This research strand focuses on the basic infrastructure of the Mini-Grid project. The PPFold Algorithm - this research is focusing on the design and implementation of a parallel algorithm for RNA analysis. GridOrbit Awareness Technologies - this research focuses on the design and evaluation of awareness technologies (public displays and notification system) aimed at creating a general awareness of the availability of an otherwise invisible infrastructure. The eLabBench - this research focuses on the design of an interactive tabletop computing system, which is going to replace existing lab benches.