[RASMB] Announcing UltraScan ver. 9.0

[Borries Demeler]

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the release of UltraScan version 9.0. 

The new version includes several modules specifically designed to
interface with the UltraScan LIMS and the high-performance computing
backend available for public use at UTHSCSA (contact me if you would
like to use this).

This software uses a new paradigm for data analysis: The data is actually
analyzed on a remote supercomputer, while the software serves as an
interface. The software interfaces with the supercomputer to provide
analysis of velocity experiments including the 2-dimensional spectrum
analysis, genetic algorithm approaches, and Monte Carlo statistics
methods for verifying molecular weight and shape distributions from
heterogeneous mixtures. The user submits jobs through the UltraScan LIMS
website, and processes the results with the new UltraScan software. We
have also added utilities for noise reduction and meniscus fitting
using the HPC system.

The new software is freely available to anyone for the following platforms 
from http://www.ultrascan.uthscsa.edu (click on "Download"):

Intel/AMD Athlon (32 bit): Linux, NetBSD, OpenBSD, FreeBSD (sorry, no Windows)
AMD Athlon/Opteron (64 bit): Linux
Macintosh: Mac OSX-10.4 (Fink packages, requires Darwin or Apple's X11), Linux-PPC
Sun Sparc (64 bit): Solaris ver. 8 or 9, Linux 
SGI (64 bit): Irix 6.5

For the adventurous, source code can also be downloaded. If you succeed
in porting UtraScan to a different platform, please let us know.

As an alternative for Windows users we also offer a Linux distribution
that fits on a single CDROM and can be used to add Linux as a second
partition to any Windows computer. This distribution comes preconfigured
with the latest version of UltraScan and also AccessGrid to facilitate
participation at the monthly AG seminars.

Training opportunities:
There will be a demo workshop for the new vresion of UltraScan at the AUC
conference in Hannover, Germany on Feb. 27-28. In addition, anyone is 
free to join the monthly AccessGrid seminars (for more info, please click
on "Seminars" at the http://www.ultrascan.uthscsa.edu website). Finally,
we will be offering another 4-day workshop at UTHSCSA this spring. The 
dates are not fixed in stone yet, but will be made available in February.

Best wishes, -Borries
---
Borries Demeler, Ph.D.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Dept. of Biochemistry, MC 7760
7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78229-3901
Voice: 210-567-6592, Fax: 210-567-1136, Email: demeler at biochem.uthscsa.edu