The iPlant Collaborative Taking plant biology into cyberspace By Janni Simner and Susan McGinley Leslie Johnston Richard Jorgensen, lead investigator and director of the iPlant Collaborative, surrounded by petunias used in gene expression studies. he National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a environmental changes; how plants have evolved in the past and University of Arizona–led team $50 million to create a global their potential to evolve in the future; and how plants live together Tcenter and computer cyberinfrastructure to answer plant with other organisms in ecosystems. biology’s grand challenge questions, which no single research entity iPlant’s team of plant biologists, computer scientists, information in the world currently has the capacity to address. scientists, mathematicians and social scientists will set about The project will unite plant scientists, computer scientists and building a “Discovery Environment”—a cyberinfrastructure—to information scientists from around the world for the first time to answer those questions in partnership with the community’s grand provide answers to questions of global importance and to advance challenge teams. knowledge in all of these fields. The iPlant center will be located in and administered through Dubbed the iPlant Collaborative, the five-year project is the UA’s BIO5 Institute in Tucson. BIO5 was founded to encourage potentially renewable for a second five years for a total of $100 collaboration across scientific disciplines, accelerate the pace of million. scientific discovery and develop innovative solutions to society’s “This global center is going to change the way we do science,” most complex biological problems. The iPlant Collaborative will says UA plant sciences professor and BIO5 Institute member create both a physical center and a virtual computing space where Richard Jorgensen, who is the lead investigator and director of researchers can communicate and work together as they share, the iPlant Collaborative. “We’re bringing many different types analyze and manipulate data, all while seeking answers to plant of scientists together who rarely had opportunities to talk to one biology’s greatest unsolved mysteries. another before (see sidebar). In so doing, we’ll create the kind Solving grand challenges in plant biology is crucial, Jorgensen of multidisciplinary environment that is necessary to crack the says, because plants affect every aspect of our lives. toughest problems in modern biology.” “Everything’s connected,” he explains. “As our climate These problems, called “grand challenges,” go beyond regular changes and our environment changes we need to have a deep scientific investigations because solving them requires huge understanding of the biology of plants from the molecular to the increases in knowledge, along with major advances in technical ecosystem level in order to understand and mitigate the problems capability. that will arise – to adapt as best we can and to focus our efforts on Categories of grand challenges that the community might saving the organisms and ecosystems that are most important to choose to focus on include, but are not limited to, questions save.” such as how plants grow from a single cell into complex, multi- The collaborative is designed so that any research team from cellular organisms; how and to what extent plants can adapt to any consortium of institutions or disciplines can propose a grand 2007 Agricultural Experiment Station Research Report challenge question. iPlant will facilitate to iPlant’s resources and data, as well the identification of such questions by as to educational tools designed to help Institutions working with the the plant biology community (two to them understand that data and develop UA’s BIO5 Institute on the iPlant four the first year) and develop the iPlant inquiry-based learning modules for K–12, Collaborative include Cold Spring cyberinfrastructure to help scientists answer undergraduate and graduate science Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in New those questions. education. York, Arizona State University, the Their approach will rely heavily on “The learning activities that will evolve University of North Carolina at computational thinking, a form of problem- from the iPlant collaborative will bring the Wilmington and Purdue University. solving that assigns computers the jobs challenges of real-world problem-solving The project’s board of directors will they’re most efficient at, and in doing so and discovery to the classroom for both be chaired by Robert Last, from frees up humans to spend more time on students and teachers. Science Foundation Michigan State University. the creative tasks that humans do best. The Arizona’s investment will ensure that About 79 percent of the $50 million iPlant cyberinfrastructure will serve as a Arizona students are engaged from day grant—the largest NSF grant in model for solving problems in fields outside one,” says William C. Harris, president and Arizona history—will stay at the UA, of plant biology, too. CEO of Science Foundation Arizona. with CSHL receiving approximately One feature of iPlant that will be BIO5 Director Vicki Chandler, also a 16 percent, ASU four percent, and developed is the ability to map the full lead investigator, explains, “Because of UNCW and Purdue a combined one expanse of plant biology research in much the Internet and cyberinfrastructure, this percent. the way that Google Earth physically is the first time in the history of science maps our planet through a series of zoom that everyone can access the same data UA participants in the iPlant features. Users of iPlant may one day be at the same time using the same tools as Collaborative include BIO5; the able to zoom in and out among various the researchers generating that data. The College of Agriculture and Life levels of plant biology, from individual cells exciting challenge is to produce tools that Sciences’ Department of Plant and molecules to entire organisms and students and teachers can readily access.” Sciences; the College of Science’s ecosystems. Each proposed grand challenge question Departments of Computer Science, For example, a researcher might zoom will have practical applications and Mathematics, and Ecology and in to analyze the carbon fixed, oxygen societal implications. For a field like plant Evolutionary Biology; the Eller produced and water utilized by individual biology, those implications are many and College of Management’s Department leaves, then zoom out to analyze how all far-reaching. “Human existence on this of Management Information Systems; of these might affect large-scale changes planet is absolutely dependent on plants,” the College of Engineering’s in ecosystems and how that could in turn Chandler says. “Our houses, our food, our Department of Electrical and affect air quality and climate. atmosphere – everything about the quality Computer Engineering; the Arizona Because collaboration among of human life depends on plants.” Research Lab’s Biotechnology disciplines is central to iPlant’s mission, the Computing Facility; and University cyberinfrastructure also will have a strong Information Technology Services. social networking component (similar to Facebook), for facilitating communication iPlant Collaborative among researchers from different fields http://www.iplantcollaborative.org/ as they work and for researching the effectiveness of social networking in Contact iPlant and in the plant and computer and Richard Jorgensen information sciences generally. (520) 626-9216 All iPlant projects will include a full [email protected] range of school curriculum components as well, which are co-funded by NSF, BIO5 Vicki Chandler and Science Foundation Arizona. Students, (520) 626-4272 teachers and the public will have access [email protected] 26 The University of Arizona - College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.