BSC-CNS Newsletter July 2017

MareNostrum 4 begins operation

According to the Top500 ranking, the MN 4 supercomputer’s general-purpose cluster is the 3rd most powerful one in Europe and the 13th in the world. During its first four months of operation, MareNostrum 4 is used for research projects on climate change, gravitational waves, a vaccination against AIDS, new radiation treatments to fight cancer and simulations relating to the production of fusion energy, among other areas.

The IEEE Computer Society awarded the Director of BSC for his contribution in parallel computing

The Charles Babbage award recognized “contributions to parallel computation through brilliant technical work, mentoring PhD students, and building an incredibly productive European research environment.” The prize was on May 31th at the annual IEEE-CS International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS 2017).

David Carrera awarded with an ERC Proof of Concept grant to explore the commercial potential of a software solution for Computational Genomics

He focuses on Hi-OMICS, a SDI controller that leverages Deep Learning technologies, to manage efficiently Computational Genomics workloads on SDI platforms. Hi-OMICS will reduce the cost of genomic analysis and have an impact on the personalized medicine market.

BSC participated in a Nature Physics paper on fusion energy experiments

The paper describes a new technique for the efficient generation of high-energy ions with electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves in multi-ion fusion plasmas. This study has been a collaborative effort between EU and US scientists together with contributions from a large number of international institutions.

New data on the protective effects of Alzheimer's on Cancer

Patients with Alzheimer's disease have a higher risk of developing glioblastoma and a lower risk of lung cancer. A paper published in Scientific Reports by researchers headed by Alfonso Valencia, describes the biological processes that underlie this comorbidity.

Jumping Genes: a study with the collaboration of BSC offers a new insight into childhood cancers

This work in Nature Genetics, identifies a mechanism for the triggering of solid tumors — including most types of cancers that affect children and young adults. This discovery has opened the path to a deeper study, currently taking place at BSC, to decipher the impact and the mechanism behind these rearrangements in cancer.

Researchers show that predicting European summer droughts months in advance is feasible

This represents an opportunity for the development of an operational early-warning system capable of anticipating summer droughts in Europe. Predictions can benefit various economic sectors, such as agriculture and water management, by helping them to be better prepared in the face of extreme events.

BSC and Foment del Treball promote the innovation in business through supercomputing

The goal of the signing of the agreement is promoting innovation in companies by using information sciences applied to economic, industrial service activities, promoting technology transfer from supercomputing research to the business environment and encouraging the knowledge flow between them.

BSC participates in a European Public Procurement of Innovation Solutions for the purchase of future supercomputing technologies

BSC participates for the first time in a market consultation for the purchase of HPC systems. The Public Procurement of Innovative Solutions (PPI) is an administrative action to foster innovation.

What does the city sound like? BSC at Sónar’17

BSC presented the project Sonomap at Sónar+D. Sonomap is an immersive multichannel data experience, which lets you fly above Barcelona to see, hear, and feel urban noise and rhythm. The data came from heterogeneous sources like LIDAR measurements, governmental open data for noise levels and traffic, and proprietary physical models to combine and visualize all the data together in the hybrid real/virtual stage.

BSC promotes European research mobility and leads container technologies

BSC participates in the third edition of the mobility programme HPC-Europa3. The aim of the programme is to maintain the persistency of a high-quality service of transnational access to the most advanced HPC infrastructures in Europe for the European research science community.

Over 350 HPC experts came to BSC for the European HPC Summit Week 2017

BSC hosted from 15 to 19 May the 2nd edition of the European HPC Summit Week, the premier networking forum for HPC experts in Europe. Bringing together over 300 attendees from different sectors, the event showcased the latest innovations in a wide range of HPC application areas, as well as investigating future technologies.

BSC hosted the 11th progress meeting of the Aerosol Climate Change Initiative project

BSC performed a user case study on the assimilation of mineral dust observations into their chemical weather prediction system, with the aim to showcase their potential to improve prediction and monitoring of mineral dust, as well as to provide guidelines for the future development of dedicated dust observation products tailored for data assimilation.

BSC hosted its 4th Doctoral Symposium

Around 90 attendees took part in the event with 45 talks and poster presentations given by PhD students representing all the research departments at BSC. The goal of the symposium was twofold: first, to provide a framework to share results of research undertaken by PhD students at BSC; second, to offer training sessions on topics and skills that will be useful to them as future researchers and professionals.