Uppsala University

Uppsala Programming for Multicore Architectures Research Center, UPMARC

Granted: 62 MSEK
Contact: Bengt Jonsson
Website

In order to increase performance and save energy, most future processor chips will contain many processors, so called cores, that work in parallel. As a consequence, almost all software must exploit parallelism, which gives rise to the grand challenge of supplying techniques and tools to support software development for multicore platforms.

UPMARC will address this challenge by

• developing principles for algorithm construction in key application areas, considering the new trade-offs for multicores in comparison with previous multi-computers,
• developing techniques for making the most efficient use of system resources, including processor cores, memory units, communication bandwidth, in order to meet requirements of performance and predictability,
• developing programming language constructions and paradigms, that allow the software developer to express the potential parallelism of an algorithm, at the same time as shielding her from the added complexity of concurrency,
• developing techniques for analyzing vital correctness properties, using formal verification, static analysis, and testing.

UPMARC brings together research groups with internationally leading expertise in complementary areas crucial for addressing these challenges: computer architecture, computer networks, parallel scientific computing, programming language technology, real-time and embedded systems, algorithmic program verification and testing, and modeling of concurrent computation.

The Genomics of Phenotypic Diversity in Natural Populations

Granted: 62 MSEK
Contact: Hans Ellegren
Website

The Evolutionary Biology Centre in Uppsala is one of largest centres for evolutionary research in the world, with the team behind this application representing world-class competence in several sub-disciplines of evolutionary biology.

Genomic science began with model organisms, which have been instrumental for our understanding of how biology works. However, a major challenge for the future is to unravel the genetic architecture of phenotypic traits in natural populations, essentially taking genomics from models to the wild.

The 21st century biology is poised to see a synthesis between the theory of evolution by natural selection and knowledge on the molecular genetic basis of phenotypes.

The centre is prepared to take on an internationally leading role in the demanding process of studying the genomics of natural diversity.

The aims:
(a) trace the genetic background to variation in fitness and local adaptation,
(b) study the genetic basis for speciation, and
(c) analyse the genomics of large-scale morphological evolution.

The study organisms range from bacteria and amoebas to plants and vertebrates, reflecting the focus on diversity. The merging of genomics and evolutionary biology has far-reaching implications; for example, the long-term persistence of living organisms depends on their ability to adapt to environmental changes and the sustainable development of human societies relies on an understanding of the evolution of virulence and host shifts of parasites.