C-DAC makes new supercomputer, Biochrome, to aid biology research

The Pune-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), maker of series of high-end PARAM supercomputer, has developed a new powerful supercomputer called Biochrome to aid computational biology research with an investment of Rs 1 crore, a top official said.

“The Biochrome machine is an advanced blade server based high performance computing (HPC) facility developed by our scientists to aid biology researchers in the country and abroad,” Professor Rajat Moona, director general of C-DAC, said. The machine has a peak computing capacity of 5 TeraFlop or the capacity to perform 5 trillion operations per second.

“About 10 scientists from C-DAC spent over six months to design and produce Biochrome machine with a total investment of Rs 1 crore funded by the Department of Information Technology, government of India,” Rajendra Joshi, associate director and head of the department of Bioinformatics, C-DAC, who headed the research team, said. He said Biochrome is the latest product from Bioinformatics Resources and Applications Facility (BRAF) at C-DAC, to be used for high-end computation for bioinformatics. “Biochrome cluster can be accessed by researchers from industry and academia for research work,” Joshi said.

He said BRAF is an effort towards providing high-end supercomputing facility to the researchers working in the areas of life sciences. He said next generation sequencing technology had brought in a new dimension to understand the molecular basis for the occurrence of diseases.

“The next generation sequencing technology enables sequencing of hundreds of genomes at an extremely rapid rate and at a significantly lower cost,” Joshi said. To be able to generate knowledge from the oceans of genomic data, enabling technologies like high performance computing, grid computing and cloud computing were the latest weapons in the hands of modern biologist, he said.

Joshi said BRAF was also setting up an advanced Cyberinfrastructure for life sciences in collaboration with National Cancer Institute of National Institute of Health, USA, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, Roslin Institute, UK, University of Edinburgh, UK, University of Surrey, UK, Oregon Health and Science University, USA, National Centre for Cell Science, Pune, IIT, Chennai and National Chemical Laboratory, Pune.

Several positions@ CDAC, India

Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) invites online applications from skilled and experienced professionals from the interdisciplinary domain of Information & Communication Technologies for the following areas of operations: http://www.cdac.in/html/jobs/pune_may2011.asp

Courtesy:  Dr. Jayaraman Valadi

POSITIONS:
All the positions are on contract for a fixed duration and against approved projects. No of posts advertised may vary as per the project requirements with consolidated pay as per C-DAC norms.

AGE:
Maximum age limit will vary according to the experience asked for the post. Applicants belonging to the reserved category / Govt. employees would be eligible for relaxations according to the Government of India’s norms.

Last date of advertisement is May 30, 2011. (6:00 PM)

HOW TO APPLY:
Please apply online by clicking the appropriate link above.

Applicants working in Central/State Govt/PSU or any Govt Undertaking are required to forward an online advance copy of the application and submit the applications through the proper channel by clearly mentioning the position code on the application.

HRD – Recruitment
Center for Development of Advance Computing
NSG IT Park, S. No. 127/2B/2A,
Sarja Hotel Lane, Aundh, Pune – 411 007,
Tel: +91-20-25503100/01/02
Fax: + 91-20-25503131

Note: I. Applicants need to apply for only one position. Applicant who applies for multiple positions will not be considered for any position.
II.Those who are appearing for the final exam of Degree need not apply. (except Junior Research Fellow position)