Location : SDSC Rm 567
Time : 3:00 - 4:30 pm.
Date : Tuesday, 10/25/05

Speaker : Timothy McPhillips
President, Natural Diversity Discovery Project.

Title: Building a virtual laboratory for phylogenetics research, education, and public outreach using the Kepler scientific workflow system

Abstract: The Natural Diversity Discovery Project aims to help the public understand scientific explanations for the diversity of life. To this end, we are developing an easy-to-use virtual laboratory for exploring the evolutionary relationships of living and extinct organisms. Using web-based tools, members of the public will infer phylogenetic trees from morphological data, molecular sequences, and genome features; and then use the fossil record, molecular clocks, and other information to correlate these phylogenies with important events in Earth history. The Kepler scientific workflow system will provide the automation framework for these tools. We are developing Kepler actors (workflow components) for automating commonly used phylogenetics software packages, and we have added to Kepler generic capabilities for managing the nested data collections typical of bioinformatics and genomics research. This approach will enable us to (1) capture the workflows used by professional researchers, (2) associate published phylogenies and other results with their provenance, and (3) encourage the public to reproduce these results using the web-based tools.