Cloud Computing for e-Science with CARMEN.PDF

Cloud Computing for e-Science with CARMEN Paul Watson, Phillip Lord, Frank Gibson, Panayiotis Periorellis, Georgios Pitsilis School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK Paul.Watson@newcastle.ac.uk Abstract. The CARMEN e-science project (.uk) is designing a system to allow neuroscientists to share, integrate and analyse data. Globally, over 100,000 neuroscientists are working on the problem of understanding how the brain works. This is a major challenge that could revolutionise biology, medicine and computer science. Solving it requires investigating how the brain encodes, transmits and processes information. In this paper we describe the CARMEN system. This is a generic e-science platform in the cloud which enables data sharing, integration and analysis supported by metadata. An ex- pandable range of services are provided to extract added value from the data. CARMEN is accessed over the Web by neuroinformaticians, who are populat- ing it with content in the form of both data and services. We describe the design of CARMEN and show how it is being used to support neuroscience. 1. Introduction This paper describes how the CARMEN project is using cloud computing to address challenging requirements from the key scientific domain of neuroscience. Under- standing how the brain works is perhaps the major challenge remaining in science, and progress in this area could revolutionise several scientific areas, in particular bi- ology, medicine and computer science. It would help us to understand how the ge- nome controls brain development, how to design better drugs, and how to design computer systems that can carry out