The ERN Cryo-EM Federated Instrument Pilot Project

Abstract

Feedback and survey data collected from hundreds of participants of the Ecosystem for Research Networking (formerly Eastern Regional Network) series of NSF (OAC-2018927) funded community outreach meetings and workshops revealed that Structural Biology Instrument driven science is being forced to transition from self-contained islands to federated wide-area internet accessible instruments. This paper discusses phase 1 of the active ERN CryoEM Federated Instrument Pilot project whose goal is to facilitate inter-institutional collaboration at the interface of computing and electron microscopy through the implementation of the ERN Federated OpenCI Lab's Instrument CI Cloudlet design. The conclusion will be a web-based portal leveraging federated access to the instrument, workflows utilizing edge computing in conjunction with cloud computing, along with real-time monitoring for experimental parameter adjustments and decisions. The intention is to foster team science and scientific innovation, with emphasis on under-represented and under-resourced institutions, through the democratization of these scientific instruments.