Using HPC to understand e.coli

Dr Tatarinova is the leader of the Computational Biology Group at the University of Glamorgan. She is running a project analysing e.coli bacteria to help improve understanding of the many different strains in existence.

The project, which aims to develop solutions for low-cost and rapid detection of dangerous bacteria, could have a great impact on public health in the future. Fujitsu will be funding a PhD studentship under the supervision of Dr Tatarinova, the first of the Fujitsu – HPC Wales collaborative studentships. Researchers from Fujitsu Laboratories also hope to contribute to this project.

She explained how HPC Wales has made her study possible:

“We were challenged with enormous demand for computational power in order to study large genomes and their variants. Whereas one job on a typical Linux server lasted 42 days before producing any meaningful results, using HPC Wales has meant we can get results in less than a week. We were also able to cut down processing time by around 84% for crucial computational tasks.

“Such savings in time and resources gave us the opportunity to efficiently evaluate and modify our studies, and compare results with other sources. More recently, analysis has brought to light some further areas to explore. With limited computing power none of this would have been possible. Using HPC Wales’ facilities has definitely boosted our research.”