CSC

	Tehdyt toimenpiteet Biomedicum Helsinki GIU - Genome Informatics Unit Group leader: Juha Saharinen Home page: http://www.giu.fi/ Genome Informatics Unit (GIU) is a research-oriented bioinformatics unit that also functions as a bioinformatics core facility. The unit was established in 2002, as a collaborative project between the University of Helsinki and National Public Health Institute of Finland (KTL), Department of Molecular Medicine. The goals of the unit are two-fold: 1) GIU is a research-oriented unit, conducting its own research in bioinformatics, namely various software and database development projects as well as collaborating with molecular biology groups on projects requiring more advanced bioinformatics skills; and 2) GIU is a core-unit in bioinformatics and thus providing computational resources: bioinformatics software, databases and servers for the researchers. GIU has its own computer server infrastructure (http://www.giu.fi/Infra/tabid/64/Default.aspx), including ~100 CPU Linux cluster, Citrix Metaframe/Windows Terminal Server farm, multiple database and www-servers, and ~10 TB disk space plus required backup tape robotics. A very large selection of bioinformatics applications (~600 software titles) and databases (~100, including multiple metazoan genomic databases) are installed and updated (see http://www.giu.fi/Services/GIUSoftwareandDatabases/tabid/57/Default.aspx) on GIU servers. The average around clock utilization of the Linux cluster is currently about 80%. The instrumentation is paid by various research grants. GIU is linked with other core-facilities and research units, like Finnish Genome Center in Biomedicum Helsinki. These units are using BBUs computer hardware for data analysis, storage and distribution. In addition, software and database development projects are in progress between GIU and these other units. The personnel in GIU range from post docs to graduate and under-graduate students to database and system administrators. Currently about 8-10 persons work in GIU. Majority of the salaries (~80%) are coming from various short-term research grants. The co-localization of the bioinformatics unit in the same building with the wet lab laboratories has proven to be a key issue for a successful collaboration between the two disciplines and emphasized the status of bioinformatics being a cross-disciplinary field of science. GIU is currently involved in about 20 own or collaborative research projects, in areas of genomic sequence analysis, gene expression analysis, transcription factor analysis, genetic linkage and association analysis, comparative genomics hybridization analysis and development of bioinformatics databases and software. The user base of GIU has grown very rapidly. Currently GIU has over 450 users, gained over the three years of GIUs existence. We estimate the number to be ~550 users at the end of 2005, based on the previous growth rate. The user account is free, and GIUs policy is to give the account for any researcher conducting academic (non-profit) science in Meilahti campus area, National Public Health Institute of Finland (KTL), in Biocentrum Helsinki group or any of their collaborators in other research organizations in Finland and abroad. We feel that dual role of GIU has been very beneficial, and the best way to run a bioinformatics core-facility is to be actively involved in the research. Back to the group list