Building the Tree of Life: A National Resource for Phyloinformatics and Computational Phylogenetics

Cyberinfrastructure for Phylogenetic Research (CIPRES) project is an open collaboration funded by the National Science Foundation. The group is led by Tandy Warnow and involves researchers (biologists, computer scientists, statisticians, and mathematicians) at sixteen institutions.

The goal of the CIPRES project is to enable large-scale phylogenetic reconstructions on a scale that will enable analyses of huge data sets containing hundreds of thousands of bio molecular sequences. To achieve this goal we have brought together a group of researchers involved in phylogeny estimation, statistics, and computer science to create new solutions for the difficult computational problems that arise in inferring evolutionary relationships. The project has a 5 year development plan (2003-2008) to create a national computational infrastructure for the international systematic's community. The group is committed to providing open-source software.

Our goals are:

• To conduct research in new algorithms and software for phylogenetic reconstruction, new statistical models of evolution at the genomic scale, and new database technology appropriate for phylogenetic research.
• To create a central resource to serve and enable systematists to analyze very large data sets, and to allow algorithms designers to test and improve their methods for inferring evolutionary histories. This resource will include software integrating existing packages with novel phylogenetic reconstruction software from the algorithms project. It will also include a stable, deeply integrated archival phylogenetic database, using new data structures and data handling techniques for phylogenetic analyses.
• To promote collaborations nationally and internationally, that create new technologies and improve scientific inquiry.
• To train the next generation of phylogenetics researchers, and to educate the public about evolution and systematics.

CIPRES is a Collaboration of the Following Institutions:
American Museum of Natural History, Florida State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, North Carolina State University, Rice University, San Diego Supercomputer Center, Texas A&M, University of Arizona, University of British Columbia, University of California at Berkeley, University of California at San Diego, University of Connecticut, University of Pennsylvania, Univ. of South Carolina, University of Texas at Austin, and Yale University. xhtml | css