POSE: Phase I: Scoping the transition of Rosetta to a self-sustaining Open Source Ecosystem

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

This project is funded by Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) which seeks to harness the power of open-source development for the creation of new technology solutions to problems of national and societal importance. The Rosetta community has led the field of protein and RNA modeling and design for the last two decades with state-of-the-art biomolecular modeling and design software, high-impact scientific advances enabled by the software, and a workforce with best-in-class biomolecular engineering training. The biomolecular modeling landscape is rapidly changing with the emergence of powerful machine learning methods, and the recent entry of several computationally designed proteins into clinical trials have marked an inflection point in the history of the field. These disruptions have prompted the Rosetta community to reimagine their practices to enable continued leadership and innovation in the next era of biomolecular modeling. Specifically, Rosetta’s existing paid commercial license model limits Rosetta’s accessibility and impact, and de-incentivizes critical contributions from industry scientists. Second, Rosetta's remarkable success has led to dramatic expansion of both the software and community, yet the operational structure of the community has not been updated accordingly, limiting workforce growth, software development, and the diversity of perspectives that ultimately lead to higher-impact scientific advances. This project will create opportunities for coordinated and strategic software development by leveraging, growing, and supporting the Rosetta community to provide best-in-class software. The project will serve the national interest by driving the next generation of the leading biomolecular modeling and design software that enables scientific discovery and innovation across the health, food, and energy sectors. This research will scope and build an open-source ecosystem (OSE) for the Rosetta software and community. Specifically, the goals are to: (1) Create a Strategic Plan that aligns efforts and drives progress by identifying high-impact opportunities in the biomolecular modeling and design ecosystem that the software, science, and community embodied in a Rosetta OSE will realize; (2) Define an organizational structure capable of rapid and informed decision-making, empowering community members and leaders in a “do-ocracy” such that scientific discovery, code development, and community engagement are all equally incentivized; and (3) Identify long-term funding and social engagement strategies that yield expanded and active user- and contributor-bases that sustain Rosetta’s impact and leadership. Learn more about Rosetta at http://www.rosettacommons.org. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.