Project Background

These servers are publicly available sites for high-speed access to up-to-date DNA/protein biological sequence databanks. High speed access between the sites is provided by the network infrastructure developed by Very High Speed Backbone Service (vBNS), TransPAC (Trans-Pacific network), and Asia-Pacific Advanced Network (APAN), and others. These sites are well connected to national research and education networks within each country.

DNA/protein biological sequence databanks are essential for advanced studies in genome research. These sequence data have been mutually collected between US, Japan and Europe since 1984.

Biosequence search methods such as BLAST for finding homologous sequences, SRS for searching sequence and research literature documentation, and others all require large local disks to store these databases, and rapid, efficient Internet access to obtain current data.

Bioinformatics service centers have been developed in many countries, among regional university, government and industry labs, to provide life scientists with the most recently updated biological sequence databanks. Without infrastructure to distribute this data efficiently, these services often are not updated in a timely manner due to the lack of existing network band width. In this project, we will develop a reliable mirror server with high speed data transfer, using advanced network infrastructure.