Linux Users of Victoria, Inc.

Talks:

• Using GPUs - Paul McIntosh
• Use of Linux-based OSes for Biophysics & Structural Biology applications - Dr Andrew Perry

Using GPUs - Paul McIntosh

Presented is an overview of the visualisation techniques developed for the upcoming MASSIVE (Multi-modal Australian ScienceS Imaging and Visualisation Environment) GPU clusters. These techniques have been prototyped using the Monash Sun Grid GPU nodes and demonstrate interactive visualisation based on a GPGPU HPC system.

Paul's passion lies in the application of advanced computer automation to improve productivity and usability of software and systems in R&D environments. In this area he has a special interest in software/system visualisation and modelling, with a particular focus on complex real-time systems. Paul has completed a PhD in 3D software visualisation of real-time systems and and currently working at VPAC as Senior Visualisation Analyst for the upcoming MASSIVE (Multi-modal Australian ScienceS Imaging and Visualisation Environment) GPU cluster.

Use of Linux-based OSes for Biophysics & Structural Biology applications, Dr Andrew Perry

How do you understand how a cell works if it's made up of tiny parts you can't see with the naked eye? What if the parts are too small to see with a light microscope? One way is to use the tools of structural biology to 'see' biological machinery at the molecular level. Today, structural biology is fundamentally reliant on modern computers to analyse data, and Linux-based operating systems often play a large role on both the desktop and computing clusters. This is a natural fit since most of the first software for structural biology was written for Unix-based machines. This talk will outline what structural biologists do, why they do it, the software they used to deal with their data, and where Linux fits in.

Andrew grew up in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria, where he inadvertently became the local 'tech support kid' for the Hazelwood North locality. Eventually he escaped to the city to study a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne. His career as a structural biologist began in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Melbourne, the same year he was introduced to Red Hat Linux 6.2. In 2006 he completed his PhD in structural biology, studying the structure of receptors responsible for import of proteins into the mitochondria using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and structural bioinformatics (In that same year, he switched from Mandriva 2006 to Ubuntu). He is currently appointed as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Monash University, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and is studying the molecular structure and function of adhesion molecules on the outer membrane of bacteria using X-ray crystallography, NMR and various other biophysical and bioinformatic techniques. He likes to write web apps and games for the Android mobile platform in his 'spare' time.