Internet2@VCU

Internet2, a consortium being led by approximately 200 U.S. research universities working in partnership with industry and government, is creating a leading-edge network capability for the national research community; to enable revolutionary Internet applications; and to work with international partners to transfer new technologies into the broad network community.

As part of an ongoing plan to maintain its network on the leading edge, VCU has connected to the Internet2 national backbone network Abilene as a member of the Mid-Atlantic Crossroads initiative. VCU has also upgraded its current Net.Work.Virginia to an OC-3 (155Mbs) connection which will serve to carry meritorious project traffic to Abilene as well as serve as the link to the commercial Internet. Please see VCU Internet2 for a description of VCU's Internet2 project.

internet 2

View the pdf verison of VCU's Internet2 information.
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VCU Internet2 contacts:
William M. Jones
Director, VCUNET
(804) 828-9912
wmjones@vcu.edu

Hitesh Patel
Internet2 Liason
(804)827-1672
hmpatel@vcu.edu

Jim Bostick
Senior Director of AcademicTechnology
(804) 827-0390
jsbostick@vcu.edu

VCU Internet2 Advisory Committee
John E. Anderson, Ph.D.
James S. Bostick, M.S.
Gregory A. Buck, Ph.D.
Linda A. Corey, Ph.D.
Carol Hampton, M.M.S.
William M. Jones
Glen E. Kellogg, Ph.D.
Ronald C. Merrell, M.D.
Hitesh M. Patel
Robert E. Pearson, Ph.D.

Mid-Atlantic Twin Registry (MATR)
Project Director: Linda A. Corey,Ph.D.

The Mid-Atlantic Twin Registry (MATR, pronounced "matter") is a population-based registry of 50,000+ twins and includes the families of preschool, school age, and adult twins born or living in North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina who are willing to consider participating in health-related research. Directed by internationally respected VCU researchers, Dr. Linda Corey and Dr. Lenn Murrelle, the MATR is one of the leading programs of medical research in the world. Comparing the differences and similarities in identical and fraternal twins is a powerful way to understand the role that inherited and environmental factors play in people's health, illness, and behavior. Scientists connected to the MATR continue to explore such topics as epilepsy, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, clinical depression, anxiety, pregnancy complications, periodontal disease, alcohol, nicotine and other drug abuse, stress and coping, religiosity and spirituality, social support, and parenting styles. Visit www.matr.vcu.edu to learn more about the project.

Macromolecular Crystallography and NMR, Molecular Modeling and
Computer-Aided Drug Discovery:
Project Director, Glenn Kellog, Ph.D

As the efforts for discovering and developing new therapeutic agents for treatment of disease has accelerated, computational simulation techniques and the desire for visualization of structure and structure-function relationships have come to the forefront. While the major users of computational drug discovery technology are based in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, many of the developers of state-of-the-art computational technology are academic. One application of I2 that we are exploring is linking academic laboratories that have expertise in developing computational chemistry methods to energize collaborations. VCU is working with academic developers at other I2 institutions to bring together our complementary computational methods via I2. For example, Dr. Brian Shoichet of Northwestern University (one of the creators of the popular DOCK program for structure modeling of protein-ligand complexes) is interested in collaborating with VCU scientists who have been inventing new methodology for understanding the energetics of biomacromolecular complexes.
Another aspect of our project is the storage, manipulation and display of very large crystallographic data sets of biomacromolecular structure between and among I2 institutions.

Distance Education
Project Director: Carol Hampton, M.M.S

Since 1982, VCU has used technology as a tool in providing distance education within the state and around the world. Interactive satellite-based telecourses, teleconferences and audio conferences have given rise to today's use of compressed digital video for real time student/teacher interaction and Web-based environments for asynchronous learning. For example, the School of Medicine's Computer Based Instruction Lab has produced more than 65 CD-ROM and computer-based programs for medical students, as well as developing online e-curriculum. School of Engineering and School of Allied Health students benefit from master's degree and doctoral degree courses delivered statewide via a live videoconferencing network. Internet videoconferencing is also bringing prospective students to VCU without requiring them to travel great distances. The School of Medicine uses telemedicine as an important means of providing training to students at the Blackstone Family Practice Center as part of it's Residency Training Program in rural central Virginia. The VCU Health System also runs a major telemedicine project , providing quality health care to the Virginia Department of Corrections and the inmates at its Powhatan Correctional Center. Proposed expansion of telehealth includes Virginia Department of Health clinics and increased linkages to Corrections Department clinics. Expanded distance education opportunities in development include Inova-Fairfax in northern Virginia and School of Pharmacy and the School of Education outreach. Please visit our website at www.cbil.vcu.edu.

Realtime High Speed Audio and Video Data Processing for
Microelectronic Education
Project Director: Robert E. Pearson, Ph.D.

It takes modern information technology, computers and networking to make tomorrow's computer chips. In order to transform Virginia into

the "Silicon Dominion" thousands of trained workers are necessary. When a manufacturing process takes a month, has a thousand individual steps and makes a million units per week it takes a great deal of knowledge to compete. VCU has a state-of-the-art cleanroom for undergraduate and graduate microelectronic fabrication instruction. Through Internet2, the cleanroom can be made accessible to workers on the job and to students at universities, colleges and schools across the state.

Genome Analysis, Nucleic Acids Research Gene Expression Analysis:
Project Director Greogry Buck, Ph.D.

With the recent completion of sequence analysis of the genomes of humans, fruit flies, flatworms, and various bacteria and other microbes, and the promise of continued even more rapid acquisition of sequence data, GenBank and other sequence databases continue to expand exponentially. In particular, gene expression databases derived from spotted array technology or Affymetrix GeneChipTM analyses are extremely large, complex and cumbersome.
Bioinformatics applications are rapidly being implemented to handle and decipher this growing mass of information. However, exchange of this data among participating investigators requires significant bandwidth. Through the Nucleic Acids Research Facilities and the developing Center for the Study of Biological Complexity, VCU has established several collaborative research projects requiring the exchange of large data sets with other public and private institutions. For example, one microbial genome-sequencing project requires the exchange of tens of thousands of DNA sequence files each of which is 150-200 kbytes in size. In another project, the Virginia Bioinformatics Consortium (VBC), one of several collaborative projects involves the generation and exchange of massive data sets derived from gene expression analyses performed on spotted arrays.
A second demonstration project in the VBC invokes distance learning technologies to team teach bioinformatics classes in collaboration with participating universities.
A third project, the Cancer Genome Initiative, involves generation of multiple gene expression array analyses from hundreds to thousands of cancer patients at several sites across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Each of these projects will take advantage of Internet 2 capabilities for the transfer and exchange of these large data sets. Partner institutions include Tufts University, the University of Minnesota, George Mason University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Polytechnical and State University, and the Inova Hospital system.

Nucleic Acids Research Facilities: views.vcu.edu/dnalab
Institute for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery: www.phc.vcu.edu/medchem.html
VCU Life Sciences: www.vcu.edu/lifesci/

Collaborative Development and Use of Anatomical Teaching Materials
via the Internet.
James H. Johnson, Ph.D., John E. Stewart, M.D., Ph.D. and Carlton R. Newton

Students of the VCU School of Medicine studying anatomy take advantage of two types of web-based learning aids. First, digital video demonstrations of dissections produced at the University of Michigan or the University of North Carolina are viewed online, utilizing Internet 2 connectivity. These video clips have been shown by faculty as part of formal lectures preceding laboratory sessions, and have been viewed by students studying in the dissection laboratory.

The second type of application involves the illustration of anatomical content using 3-dimensional computer models developed from the data of the National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project. Surface models of structures are created from a stack of cross sectional images, and represented in the computer through virtual reality modeling language. Since modeling fidelity increases the complexity (and hence the polygon count) of the 3-dimensional models, internet 2 capabilities are an advantage in achieving acceptable download times. Students have the ability to interact with the models by viewing from any perspective, invoking animated fade-out to full transparency, rollover identification, and links to text annotations and/or images. Development of these models and worlds has been accomplished jointly by collaborators on the two campuses of VCU as well as the Mayo Medical School.