Bioinformatics and Research Computing (BaRC), Whitehead Institute

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA

    Bioinformatics & Research Computing (BaRC) Department 

Name/Title:

   George W. Bell, Ph.D., Director of BaRC, (gbell AT wi.mit.edu) 

Group size:

   - total staff is 6
   - 1 Ph.D. director, 3 Ph.D. Bioinformatics Scientists, 
      1 M.S. Senior Bioinformatics Analyst, and 1 Senior Graphics specialist. 
   - We have a full IT department that manages our systems, Linux software, and network. 

Environment:

   The Whitehead Institute is a private research institute affiliated with MIT. All PIs at 
   Whitehead hold faculty appointments at MIT. There are 21 labs - 17 Faculty and 4 
   Whitehead Fellows - with undergrads, graduate students, postdocs and technicians. 
   Labs range in size from 6 to low 40s. 

Tools:

  We support software on Mac, Windows and Linux. For desktop software we currently 
  support LaserGene, MacVector, Sequencher, Gene Construction Kit. Vector NTI,
  DNAStrider, the Adobe Creative Suite, and web tools like GeneGo and Oncomine.
  For Linux software we have a huge selection.

Pertinent hardware info:

  The IT department supports a large cluster of machines and provides ample storage 
  to support the scientific work at the Institute.

Training:

  - Hands on mini-courses. See BaRC Education Pages.
  - Our "Hot Topics" series is held monthly and includes an hour talk plus hands-on session 
    about some specific computational or bioinformatics topic.  
  - We also do lots of one-on-one training. 

Bioinformatics support model:

  basic model is consultation, collaboration, training and education 
  in the areas of bioinformatics and graphics. 

Funding model:

  Institutional funds.