BioExcel, the leading European Centre of Excellence for Computational Biomolecular Research, was established in 2015 with support from the European H2020 program for developing research infrastructures.

The excellent execution of all the centre’s activities since its foundation has enabled us to secure a new round of larger funding for another three years of operation until end of 2021 under the project BioExcel-2.

Here we present a summary of the future plans for upcoming activities at the centre!

Driving Computational Biomolecular Research

Based on the successes of the first phase of the project, BioExcel is continuing its mission to advance science and technology in the life sciences by:

  • pushing the performance, efficiency, scalability, and usability of several key software packages on high-end compute systems, including exascale – GROMACS, HADDOCK, CP2K, PMX; extensive co-design activities with HPC vendors and system developers
  • improving the usability of existing applications and tools to support the convergence of high-performance computing (HPC), high-throughput computing (HTC), and high-performance data analytics (HPDA) via the development of **workflows combining HPC simulations with data management and analytics;
  • significantly expanding the range of training, commercial applications and services that are offered;
  • making publications, webinars, libraries, workflows, codes, and training material developed by BioExcel available via open-source and open-access principles;
  • making BioExcel sustainable so researchers in academia and industry can rely on having access to BioExcel’s resources in the long term; and
  • collaborating with international initiatives, such as other centres of excellence, to strengthen the links between related research communities and leverage worldwide expertise

We will continue active engagement with industry. Business-friendly licensing of the core applications allows for their commercial reuse and linking. For example, the codes are already used by all of the top ten pharmaceutical companies as well as a number of SMEs. The centre will also offer tailored training to industry researchers by arrangement.

We encourage academic and industrial researchers to get in touch and learn about the many opportunities that we offer for support, joint activities, and collaborations. BioExcel has representatives in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Malta, Spain, Finland and the UK who are happy to provide guidance and assistance with your work.

Please visit https://bioexcel.eu for more information and contact details.

eScience lab in BioExcel-2

The eScience Lab is part of BioExcel, representing the University of Manchester, with a particular focus on workflows, repoducibility and usability.

In the BioExcel-2 project we are deputy lead of Work Package 2 Convergence of HPC/HPDA and Improved Usability; and task lead of T2.6 Retaining usability, interoperability and reproducibility in Exascale workflows and T3.4 Standards and Best Practice (task lead).

We will be building on our extensive experience and engagement with Common Workflow Language and Research Objects as well as fostering links between BioExcel communities and related projects like ELIXIR.