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NECTAR TRAINING
Module 2
Virtual Laboratories and eResearch Tools
[email protected] | nectar.org.au
Virtual Laboratories and eResearch Tools
• The NeCTAR project has funded the development of
customised cloud services, software and portals for
particular research disciplines or workflows.
• This module provides an overview of the “ready-to-go”
tools, eResearch Tools and Virtual Laboratories.
Virtual Laboratories and eResearch Tools
• Virtual Laboratories provide online platforms for
research activities in several research discipline areas.
• eResearch Tools provide online software tools for
common research tasks.
Virtual Laboratories
•
Virtual Labs aim at connecting researchers with existing and new
research facilities, data repositories and computational tools.
•
They help to create new opportunities for collaboration, efficiencies and
innovation.
•
Virtual labs are discipline-specific research environments.
Virtual Laboratories
• A Virtual Laboratory can be seen as a portal to several
software tools, data, storage and documentation in an
integrated and interactive online environment.
• Main aim is enabling researchers across the world to
collaborate and share information.
• In short: A Virtual Lab is an on-line platform offering a
collection of discipline-specific tools and data.
Virtual Laboratories
• A Virtual Lab may consist of any or several of:
• Tools for processing and analysis
• Storage
• Models (e.g. ocean circulation, waves)
• Networks of observing stations / sensors
• Access to data sets / data collections
• Support teams
• Tutorials
• … and more.
Virtual Laboratories: Examples
• The Climate and Weather Science Virtual Laboratory
for studying and forecasting weather patterns.
• The Human Communication Science Virtual
Laboratory for cross-disciplinary interaction and
information sharing between researchers from speech
science, computer science, behavioural science and
other disciplines.
Virtual Laboratories: Examples
• The Genomics Virtual Lab is developing an online
system for processing genomics workflows in the Cloud.
• The MARine Virtual Laboratory (MARVL) can provide
all the tools necessary to construct a virtual environment
of a region of interest in marine environments.
Virtual Laboratories: Examples
• The Geophysics Virtual Lab has developed a portal, a
workflow system and computational tools to access geological
survey data. It provides Geophysicists with access to an
integrated environment that exploits Cloud computing and
HPC technology to run automated workflows.
• The Characterisation Virtual Lab has developed many tools,
including a remote desktop for processing data from
microscopes or the Australian Synchrotron on a powerful
supercomputer.
Virtual Laboratories: Examples
• The Humanities Virtual Lab is integrating many
important cultural data sets for researchers in the
humanities.
• The Biodiversity and Climate Change Virtual Lab
provides integrated tools, data collections and access
portals for modelling the potential responses of
Australia’s biodiversity to climate change.
• … and many more! Check out the NeCTAR website for a
complete list of Virtual Labs.
eResearch Tools
• NeCTAR eResearch Tools provide research software
for the Australian research community.
• There is a strong focus on enhancing existing tools
and applications to be more collaborative, accessible
and to support research workflows.
• The majority of the tools are web-based; some offer
software or data to download from the NeCTAR cloud.
eResearch Tools: Examples
• Drishti and Voluminous are scientific visualization and
analysis tools. Drishti is a component of the NeCTAR
Characterization Virtual Laboratory and Voluminous is a
web-based application.
• OzTrack: easy to use, sophisticated analysis and
visualization features to researchers, including
ecologists, biologists, resource and wildlife managers.
This is a free-to-use web-based application for analyzing
and visualizing animal location data.
eResearch Tools: Examples
• Cloud-based image analysis (CloudImaging): This web-based
toolbox offers image analysis functionality that can be connected
together in workflows (allowing creation of even more complex
algorithms that can be re-run on different data sets).
• The Human Variome Project is a national data sharing facility for
improving clinical genetic testing services and supporting medical
research.
• Quadrant: A web-based tool for managing research projects and
data collection, particularly for participant-based research. This tool
enables researchers to work collaboratively and efficiently from a
self-managed centralized site.
eResearch Tools: Examples
• MyTardis offers a Image analysis and processing toolbox,
particularly for medical imaging. The tool provides a repository
for characterisation and bioscience data.
• Federated Archaeological Information Management
System: This eResearch tool includes The Ark project which
provides tools to support medical studies and clinical trials.
• The SHaRED project (submission, harmonisation and
retrieval of ecological data) is a tool that provides an online
questionnaire to help structure metadata when uploading data
files.
eResearch Tools: Examples
• The High-throughput Computing For Globally
Connected Science eResearch Tools will provide tools
and underlying infrastructure for high throughput projects
across disciplines—initially only for processing highenergy physics data from the CERN Large Hadron
Collider (LHC).
•
… and more. Check out the NeCTAR eResearch Tools
website for more information.
Virtual Labs vs eResearch Tools
Virtual Laboratories
• on-line platforms offering
a collection of disciplinespecific tools and data.
• create new platforms for
collaboration and
information sharing.
eResearch Tools
• offer a variety of research
software for the Australian
research community, often
addressing researchers
across disciplines.
• focus on enhancing
existing tools and
applications.
Closing note
• You now know what Virtual Labs and eResearch tools
are, maybe you have found a tool that is “ready to use”
for you.
• The next Modules will cover the probably most soughtafter NeCTAR service: Cloud computing in the Research
Cloud.