The departments of Life Sciences at UCLA rank among the best in the nation, with a major strength being in the area of NIH-funded research in molecular biology using recombinant DNA technology. We also have strong NIH-funded programs in Neurophysiology and other areas of modern biology. A common thread that runs between all these diverse research groups in an increasing need for modern computing tools. The current scientific computing situation at UCLA is not optimal for the type of research being carried on in the Life Science field. The IBM 3033 mainframe run by the Office of Academic Computing (OAC) cannot provide the type of interactive computing required by the majority of Life Science researchers, and there is little software on this system specifically designed for research in Life Science. In the last few years the DEC VAX minicomputer has become the main computer used in the Life Science field and a huge amount of software written specifically to run on this computer for the research needs of modern biology has become available. There are several VAX minicomputers already on campus, but they are either dedicated to specific research needs or limited in usage. Due to this requirement for an interactive computing facility dedicated to the specific needs of research in Life Sciences at UCLA, we would like to submit this proposal for a new VAX minicomputer.
