The research group of Associate Professor Peter Morrell (Agronomy and Plant Genetics and MSI PI) uses high-performance computing and software tools to perform sequence analyses of crop plants. The goal of this research is to determine the genetic causes of variations that can affect crops’ yield and productivity. The databases associated with this research are extremely large, so efficient software is required to process them.

The UMII Updraft Program is funding a computer-science student who is updating the Morrell Lab’s software to make it more efficient and productive. This research directly relates to the MnDRIVE Global Food Ventures focus area.

Research Computing partners:

• University of Minnesota Informatics Institute (funding)
• Minnesota Supercomputing Institute