A novel distribution platform for an open source proteomic database and computational analysis system is proposed. The proposed platform will enable inter-institutional collaboration in the study of biological mechanisms and measurement of complex protein systems. Installation is an initial and sometimes insurmountable barrier to open source software adoption, especially for state of the art database systems such as CPAS. We propose to create a hosted CPAS server platform to eliminate installation and maintenance issues for both software and hardware, thus increasing the open source bioinformatics tools adoption rate and drastically reducing total cost of ownership for open source bioinformatics tools like CPAS. Virtual cluster technology also offers new solutions to the security, scalability, and ease of use problems that have hampered proteomics collaborations to date. This proposed system builds on a successful collaboration of experts in proteomics and software development, and marks the one of the first major use of virtual cluster technology in proteomics.
The aim of this research is to enable a new proteomics technology that will both lower the cost of proteomics experiments and lower the barriers to collaboration between research institutions. A successful outcome would increase the potential health benefit of a broad array of current and future research. ? ? ? ?
