Sharing Remote Instruments

This article tells of how scientists share remote instruments. The said technological advantage has helped scientists in a tremendous way. The article tells that the HPCC supported advances in computer networks and visualization software are allowing scientists to control and share remote instruments. Such instruments include inspection microscopes, telescopes, and other scientific instruments. With the new technology, researchers and scientists can share data in an interactive, and fast way. These types of projects have opened the doors of the laboratory to a new concept of the distributed laboratory. The given lab is known to integrate laboratory equipment, high performance computing systems and data visualization tools. They do it via a high-speed network, resulting in a more comprehensive and scientifically valuable investigative environment.

The article tells of remote microscopy. Researchers at the University of California San Diego Microscopy and Imaging Resource have implemented a computer controlled high-voltage transmission electron microscope otherwise known as HVEM. The said researchers work in collaboration with staff scientists from the San Diego Supercomputer Center and the Scripps Research Institute. The research group from both teams has coupled the HVEM via a high-speed network to high performance computing systems and interactive visualization software. They are now known to run on scientists’ workstations. The article tells that the inspection microscope is a unique resource. It is one of only a few such microscopes in the United States in use in biological science.

The scientists describe that the inspection microscope is more powerful than ordinary electron microscopes. It has the capacity to accommodate much thicker laboratory specimens. It likewise yields greater amounts of biological information. The article explains that by using computer tomography and other visualization techniques, the images collected form this kind of microscope can be used to produce three-dimensional animations. This has allowed many scientists to look at many previously uninterpreted areas of biomedical science relating biological function with structure. The article explains that the subjects of such study include the disruption of nerve cell components resulting from Alzheimer’s disease. It specifically includes studying the structural relations of protein molecules. These molecules are studied for their involvement in the release of calcium inside neurons. It also studies the three dimensional form of the Golgi apparatus, where sugars are added to proteins.

The capabilities of the inspection microscope for scientific investigation will soon be extended according to the article. It aims to combine image data acquisition with computing resources to render, view, and animate the images for real time analysis. It explains that through the inspection microscopes connection to a high-speed network the instrument will someday be made available to investigators located in any geographic region. This has a goal to extend the accessibility of the resource to a broader scientific community in a collaborative environment. The application of the operational concepts explained in the article is not limited to inspection microscopes. A research group in Illinois is investigating how to apply this model to real time radio telescope observation. It seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of connecting the Berkeley, Illinois, and Maryland Array through radio telescope array. Original article