Bioinformatic analysis using Jetstream, a cloud computing environment

Abstract

National Center for Genome Analysis Support (NCGAS) assists researchers in addressing the scientific challenges of understanding and analyzing the wealth of gene sequence information now available. This includes on-boarding biology professionals who lack the necessary computational background to run their analyses on high-performance computing systems. Virtual machines help with the transition to command line use, software installation, and running analysis in the Linux environment (as most high-performance computing clusters). Jetstream (https://jetstream-cloud.org/) is a cloud computing resource that provides access to preconfigured virtual machines, making the transition relatively effortless, flattening the learning curve needed to get results from experiments that otherwise produce an untenable amount of data. Currently, over 14% of all allocations of usage on Jetstream are for biology other than protein folding – the majority of this being some sort of genomic analysis. NCGAS currently hosts over 123 genome analysis and bioinformatics software titles on Jetstream as preconfigured virtual machines. In this digital tool and resources workshop, we will demonstrate on how to set up Jetstream accounts, start a preconfigured virtual machine, and run genomic analysis on this virtual machine (https://ncgas.org/Blog_Posts/Getting%20Started%20on%20Jetstream.php). Jetstream also provides environments for prototyping and publishing tailored workflows that gives researchers access to interactive computing and data analysis resources on demand.