Bioinformatics Development Cluster

The ABC Bioinformatics Development Cluster is a cluster computer resource used for biological data analysis (e.g. high-throughput sequencing data, comparative and computational genomics). The computer resources were purchased using funding awarded to Gavin Huttley, Simon Easteal, Justin Borevitz, Sylvain Forêt, Craig Moritz, Thomas Preiss and the Biomolecular Resource Facility (BRF). It is administered by staff at the ABC. However, we welcome researchers across ANU campus and collaborators who wish to use these resources.

The operating system is Rocks 6.2 ClusterLinux distribution based on CentOS 6.6. There is currently 1 head (login) node; 36 compute nodes with 48 GB of RAM and 24 processor threads; 5 compute nodes with 1 TB of RAM and 5 TB local disks for de novo assemblies; and ~200TB of storage. Sun Grid Engine (SGE) is used as the job scheduler.

Come and talk to us at one of our free weekly drop-in sessions or contact us for information about how to access and use the cluster.

The ABC charges for bioinformatics services on a cost-recovery basis. A subsidised rate is available for ANU Researchers, BioPlatforms Australia-funded projects and other eligible researchers. We can analyse your data using existing pipelines, or develop custom pipelines as required. Our services can also include figures and visualisation tools for publication.

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Definitions 

Service: work undertaken by the ANU Bioinformatics Consultancy (ABC) on behalf of a third party in return for financial compensation.

Collaboration: work undertaken by the ABC on behalf of a third party for which no financial compensation is paid by the third party.

 

General

The ABC reserves the right to review and adjust the prices of offered Services as and when deemed necessary or prudent for its operation.

The ABC operates on a cost-recovery basis. A subsidised rate is available for eligible researchers. The level of subsidisation may vary from year-to-year and by institute.

No ABC Service will commence without the written consent of the Principal Investigator/Lab Leader and provision of a valid ANU General Ledger Code (or appropriate billing details for non-ANU customers).

Services provided by the ABC must be acknowledged in all published works. A reference to the publication should be sent to the ABC Manager once the paper is published (including theses).

Where an individual ABC staff member makes an intellectual contribution to a research project (such as, but not limited to, development of analysis methods or biological interpretation of data) as a result of providing a Service or through Collaboration, it is expected that the staff member be included as an author on any published works.

Where an individual ABC staff member makes a substantial contribution to a research project being carried out by a higher degree by research student as a result of providing a Service or through Collaboration, consideration should be given to inclusion of the staff member on the student’s supervisory panel.

Collaborations will only be entered into with the authorisation of the ABC Manager and, where time constraints require prioritisation of work, Services will be given priority over Collaborations.

 

Data

Customers are responsible for archiving and protecting data and code that is given to/generated by the ABC. Data and code generated by the ABC are solely for the use of the customer and their collaborators unless otherwise agreed prior to the start of any Service or Collaboration.

The ABC shall not be responsible for the quality of results generated by analysis of data using methods that deviate from recommended tools or practice when requested by the customer.

The ABC will not be held responsible for the loss of data in its possession. Any data stored on ABC-provided storage systems (e.g. the development cluster) must be assumed not to be backed-up or archived in any way.

 

Version: 11 December 2019