Arkansas (Lawrence Cornett)
INBRE PI’s and Affiliated Persons
- Identify 3-5 NIH-funded projects or types of projects in your state that currently have a need for advanced networking capabilities.
R33EB000978 Temporal-spatial biomagnetic fields of the fetus. 9/30/02-8/31/05, PI: Curtis Lowery, M.D.
5U01CA086081 Arkansas special populations access network (A-SPAN). 4/4/00-3/31/05, PI: Ronda Henry-Tillman, M.D.
R01HD039054 Genes, micronutrients and homeobox related malformations. 9/25/00-8/31/05, PI: Charlotte Hobbs, M.D.
G08LM007035 4—States InfoSystem: Health Information Network. 5/1/02-4/30/05, PI: Charles Cranford, M.D.
- Identify 2-3 health issues important to your state that would benefit from advanced networking capabilities.
Access to health care in the Delta region of the state.
Health disparities among African-American populations.
- Identify the major research institutions in your state (including both academic and biomedical institutions) and indicate their current level of network connectivity, if known.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (includes Arkansas Children’s Hospital)
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Both institutions are connected to Internet2.
- Identify current state and local funding that benefits the biomedical research community.
The principal source of state funding that benefits biomedical research in the state is the Arkansas Biosciences Institute (ABI). The ABI receives $12-15 million annually from the state’s tobacco settlement payments. These funds are allocated to five institutions in the state (University of Arkansas, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Arkansas State University, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, and University of Arkansas Agricultural Division) to support research to biomedical and agricultural research targeted to improve human health.
Historically, the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority has had state funding ($1-2 million annually) to support basic and applied research, some of which is human health related.
Information Technology Persons
- For your state, where are the existing and planned future node(s) for access to high capacity networking capabilities?
- What personnel and physical resources are currently available in your state for support of advanced networking capabilities?
- What continuing personnel and physical resources do you need for sustaining this initiative in the long-term? What are the projected immediate and long-term costs to meet these needs?
How could you envision leveraging existing and planned future network capabilities for specific biomedical research and health initiatives?
Mississippi (Mohamed O. Elasri)
INBRE PI’s and Affiliated Persons
- Identify 3-5 NIH-funded projects or types of projects in your state that currently have a need for advanced networking capabilities.
INBRE
- Identify 2-3 health issues important to your state that would benefit from advanced networking capabilities.
Obesity, Diabetes, Infectious diseases, and cancer
- Identify the major research institutions in your state (including both academic and biomedical institutions) and indicate their current level of network connectivity, if known.
The University of Southern Mississippi: OC3/ATM(155 Mbps) and Internet2
Mississippi State University: OC3/ATM(155 Mbps) and Internet2
University of Mississippi: OC3/ATM(155 Mbps) and Internet2
Jackson State University: OC3/ATM(155 Mbps) and Internet2
University of Mississippi Medical Center: OC3/ATM(155 Mbps) and Internet2
- Identify current state and local funding that benefits the biomedical research community.
None
Information Technology Persons
- For your state, where are the existing and planned future node(s) for access to high capacity networking capabilities?
None
- What personnel and physical resources are currently available in your state for support of advanced networking capabilities?
- What continuing personnel and physical resources do you need for sustaining this initiative in the long-term? What are the projected immediate and long-term costs to meet these needs?
- How could you envision leveraging existing and planned future network capabilities for specific biomedical research and health initiatives?
Puerto Rico (Guy Cormier)
INBRE PI’s and Affiliated Persons
1. Identify 3-5 NIH-funded projects or types of projects in your state that currently have a need for advanced networking capabilities.
Due to our geographical location, our isolation from the Continental US, forces us to explore means such as videoconferencing to participate in group meetings and other collaborative activities. Several NIH-funded programs such as COBRE and SNRP require regular meetings with collaborators. Commodity-Internet based videoconferencing is ineffective to participate in such activities, and only H.323 or Access Grid over Internet2 have sufficient flexibility and presence to be of use to our researchers.
Other specific examples are:
Dr. Anabelle Seguarra and Dr. Carlos Luciano of the UPR-Medical Sciences campuses are currently exploring an institutional participation to the NCRR-funded BIRN project. Discussions were also held on this topic between Dr. Jose Conde of the RCMI program of the UPR-Medical Sciences campus.
Dr. Guy Cormier, of the Puerto Rico Bioinformatics Resource Center and Dr. Jose Conde of the RCMI program of the UPR-Medical Sciences campus are interested in developing the necessary software to interact with the Visible Human Project database in a distributed setting over the Access Grid. Dr. Conde discussed this project with some surgical faculty of the University of Chicago and they showed great interest in participating.
Dr. Wieslaw Kozek, a physiologist at the Department of Microbiology & Med Zoology of the UPR-Medical Sciences campus, is interested in remotely accessing the Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscope (IVEM 4000) located in San Diego, in order to continue his studies of small multicellular parasitic organisms such as Trichinella spirallis.
Identify 2-3 health issues important to your state that would benefit from advanced networking capabilities.
There is on-going work done by Dr. Glorissa Canino of the UPR-Medical Sciences campus, which is looking at the preponderance of mental health issues, such as depression, in Puerto Rico. She has an established collaboration (among others) with researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University. They have been discussing the establishment of an imaging database related to their studies.
The use of the Access Grid technology is considered within the medical education role of the UPR Medical Sciences campus for local residents in a variety of fields to participate in Grand Rounds at other institutions, focusing on the number of health disparities found in Puerto Rico.
2. Identify the major research institutions in your state (including both academic and biomedical institutions) and indicate their current level of network connectivity, if known.
The three main research institutions of the University of Puerto Rico system each have an individual OC-3 connecting them to the UPR-GigaPoP, which itself has an OC-3 connection to the Internet2 network and is also connected to an OC-3 commodity Internet port.
All of the other UPR campuses, eight in total, are currently connected to the central commodity core by single T1’s. This situation will be upgraded by the end of 2004, whereas all eight campuses will have single DS-3’s to the UPR-GigaPoP.
All other higher-education institutions have at best a single T1 connection to the commodity Internet.
Information Technology Persons
1. For your state, where are the existing and planned future node(s) for access to high capacity networking capabilities?
Only one node exists and none are to be planned. The node is located in downtown San Juan, physically near to the main UPR campus (Río Piedras) and the UPR Medical School.
The node is managed by the staff of the UPR-High Performance Computing facility, which is the primary research computing facility of Puerto Rico.
Currently, 4 institutions are connected to the GigaPoP and receive Internet2 access, namely:
· University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras campus (the flagship insitution of the UPR)
· University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez campus (the engineering school of the UPR)
· University of Puerto Rico - Medical Sciences campus
· Arecibo Observatory
By the end of 2004, the remaining eight (8) campuses of the UPR will also be connected to the GigaPoP and have Internet2 access.
We are also in discussions with two private medical schools of Puerto Rico, the Ponce School of Medicine and the Universidad Central del Caribe, each wanting access to the Internet2 network.
2. What personnel and physical resources are currently available in your state for support of advanced networking capabilities?
The UPR GigaPoP is operated by two network engineers, supported by the programming and sysadmin staff of the UPR-High Performance Computing facility. As part of a larger support team, joining the networking staff of the GigaPoP are the principal network engineer of each of the four connecting institutions, as well as the network engineer responsible of the commodity Internet core of the UPR system.
The UPR GigaPoP is currently comprised of the following networking equipment:
- Cisco 12406 GSR router
- Cisco 7507 router (in process of decommissioning)
- Cisco Lightstream 1010 ATM switch
- Cisco Catalyst 6513 with routing module
The GigaPoP equipment is collocated in the machine room of the UPR-High Performance Computing facility, sharing floor space with the supercomputing servers of the UPR. The machine room is served by its own electrical substation, A/C system, UPS and power generator.
The connectivity map of the present-day network can be supplied for the discussion at hand, but there is a major upgrade presently under bid which will increase the redundancy of the GigaPoP as well as the number of supported connectors. The upgrade process is expected to be completed by the end of 2004.
4. How could you envision leveraging existing and planned future network capabilities for specific biomedical research and health initiatives?
Over the past five years, the University of Puerto Rico has built a solid infrastructure for ensuring our research community has access to a robust network technology. Our goal is to continue to provide a state-of-the-art network, designed to meet the needs of current basic and clinical biomedical research initiatives such as the Puerto Rico Cancer Center, the Comprehensive Center for Health Disparities in AIDS, the Pediatric Asthma Disparities, and the RCMI Basic and Clinical Research Centers. To accomplish this, the UPR has partnered with the government in several important initiatives and has been able to leverage funds to support a Center of Excellence in Software Development (Communication and Information Technology Initiatives, PR Industrial Development Company), promote legislation to conduct basic and clinical cancer research (P. del C. 4864), and participate in the establishment of the Puerto Rico Trust Fund for Science, Technology and Research (P. del S. 2767). During the next academic year, the University of Puerto Rico is also committed to provide wireless and Internet2 connectivity to all its eleven campuses. Future plans include partnering with the pharmaceutical industry in an effort to maintain and expand our networking capabilities and its applications in health-related endeavors. The University of Puerto Rico realizes that capitalizing on these opportunities requires the development of new ideas, establishing new relationships, strengthen existing partnerships, and leveraging emerging technologies.
South Carolina (Bill Hogue)
1. For your state, where are the existing and planned future node(s) for access to high capacity networking capabilities?
Clemson University (in SC's upstate region), the Medical University of South Carolina (in Charleston, along the coast), and the University of South Carolina (in Columbia, at the center of the state) are all members of Internet2 and thus have ready access to high capacity networking. Usage statistics indicate no current capacity problems; capacity can be increased easily as needs dictate.
The State of SC Office of the CIO coordinates development of a statewide network for K-12, higher education, and state agencies. Additional capacity may be provided in nearly any non-rural location in the state on fairly short notice. The Savannah River site along the Georgia border also has high capacity networking capabilities, but I have little familiarity with their environment.
An excellent overview of the SC Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network may be found at www.scidea.org .
USC, MUSC, and the Greenville Hospital System (upstate) also have recently developed the I-26 video corridor, a high-speed networking system to be used for medical training, research collaboration, and for medical diagnostics across the state. Physicians at USC's three rural primary health care centers expect to consult visually with colleagues in Columbia or at MUSC for patient diagnoses. The system also will be used for shared research collaboration and medical lectures between the two medical schools.
2. What personnel and physical resources are currently available in your state for support of advanced networking capabilities?
Clemson, MUSC, and USC are the three research universities in SC. Collectively, they account for approximately $400-million per year in external grants and contracts. In addition to hundreds of faculty researchers and the IT expertise embedded in their respective research teams, each university employs professional staff for network development, operation, and support. Clemson and USC both have a college of engineering and a department of computer science that include faculty and staff with advanced networking expertise.
3. What continuing personnel and physical resources do you need for sustaining this initiative in the long-term? What are the projected immediate and long-term costs to meet these needs?
There is substantial interest in the research sector for development of a quasi-independent, consortial SC higher education network dedicated to instruction, research, and provision of services (such as medical services) directly to citizens of SC. There currently are state statutes that prevent the research sector from procuring and operating telecommunications resources independently (outside the state procurement and regulatory processes). USC is working politically to secure regulatory and procurement relief. Regulatory relief will be an important step in developing and sustaining advanced networking capabilities in the future.
I am not aware of any substantive analysis of costs to support future initiatives associated with advanced networking capabilities.
4. How could you envision leveraging existing and planned future network capabilities for specific biomedical research and health initiatives?
The Office of Information Technology at the University of South Carolina is committed to aligning its resources and initiatives with those of the University's Office of Research and Health Sciences. The information below is posted at http://www.sc.edu/research/brisc.shtml .
Recently, the Biomedical Research Initiative Steering Committee (BRISC) analyzed the University's current extramural funding for biomedical research activity, consulted with deans and other university administrators, and formed several working groups to identify areas of strength, barriers to research growth, and directions for future investment and growth. BRISC recommends that the following actions be taken for the purpose of markedly increasing the University's productivity in biomedical research.