Unix Computer Cluster

Southwest Foundation For Biomedical Res, San Antonio TX

Investigators

Abstract

The major research of the Department of Genetics at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical research (SFBR) is aimed at finding genes that contribute to susceptibility to common diseases (heart disease, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, etc.) and their risk factors. Unlike much of the traditional work in these areas which analyzes disease patterns in sibships and nuclear families, we have pioneered the use of extended families (pedigrees) that may include many dozens of relatives. This approach greatly increases the amount of information about genetic transmission available for analysis. To carry out the highly compute- intensive analyses that are the consequence of this approach, we also pioneered in the development and application of parallel processing in statistical genetics. In 1995 we assembled a cluster of Unix processors to run production analyses written specifically for the purpose in our Department. The success of this approach led to a regular series of upgrades to this cluster, and ultimately to construction of a second cluster in 2000. As the number of our projects has increased and processing demand grows, we are faced with a need for additional computing power at a time when our original cluster is increasingly obsolete. Thus, we are requesting funds to purchase a new 100-node dual processor Unix cluster to augment our current capabilities.