Phase VIII brochure and 2023 Annual Report are now available!

Annual Report & Brochure

The 2023 CERN openlab annual report, showcasing the R&D projects and their work from last year, is now available. 

The CERN openlab phase VIII brochure is also available, revealing the plans for the next phase that will be presented, and launched, on the 2024 CERN openlab Technical Workshop starting tomorrow.  

 Find the 2023 annual report here and the Phase VIII brochure here

The 2024 CERN openlab technical workshop: a unique opportunity for learning and networking

CERN openlab Technical Workshop 2024

The event will take place at Science Gateway on 26th and 27th March. Registrations are now open, the number of seats is limited. Hurry up!

CERN openlab annual meeting is a unique opportunity for IT professionals from CERN and partner industries to delve into the latest advancements, exchange insights and create a collaborative learning environment about cutting-edge IT topics. For the 2024 edition, talks will cover topics such as heterogeneous computing platforms and infrastructures, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing convergence, applications for society and environment, cloud and storage. The keynote talk by Mike Lamont, CERN Director of Accelerators and Technology, will focus on “Future CERN accelerator programme and its technological challenges”.

Twenty-three years after its inception, CERN openlab will kick-off Phase VIII at the Technical Workshop, which will also feature a review of the R&D projects carried out during the past years and will nurture discussions on future projects.

The number of seats is limited. Find more about the programme and secure your place by registering here: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1356148/overview

BioDynaMo: cutting-edge software helps battle cancer

Final tumour before treatment (left) and at early stage of treatment (right). (Image: adapted from T. Duswald et al., Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 2024)

Final tumour before treatment (left) and at early stage of treatment (right). (Image: adapted from T. Duswald et al., Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 2024)

Choosing the right cancer treatment is a massive undertaking involving multiple stages, high experimental complexity and significant costs. Currently, two main methods are used to find the best possible treatment solutions: in vitro testing and clinical trials. However, predicting the drug effects on each individual patient remains the Holy Grail of personalised medicine.

Born from CERN openlab in the CERN IT department, BioDynaMo is an innovative tool for “in silico” testing, i.e. experimentation carried out on a computer. Based on mathematical models, it creates and runs complex 3D computer simulations that help understand cancer progression and identify the most effective treatment strategies for specific tumour cases.

In a recent scientific publication, scientists affiliated with CERN, the Technical University of Munich and the University of Texas at Austin demonstrated the significant potential of advancing medical therapy with the help of BioDynaMo. The model successfully replicates medical data on recorded tumour growth and the effects of two anti-cancer drugs, Doxorubicin and Trastuzumab. By fitting the BioDynaMo models to the available pre-clinical data, scientists proved the platform’s ability to simulate different levels of efficacy of various drugs, treatment combinations and dosage regimens.

BioDynaMo is an open source project that strives to provide the most efficient and performant simulation platform for agent-based models. It accommodates a diverse range of use cases and can address research questions in oncology, neuroscience, epidemiology and many more disciplines. With its ability to simulate almost two billion agents (or cells), BioDynaMo is a powerful tool for analysing many different complex systems. Since 2015, BioDynaMo's consortium of scientists has been working on developing and optimising the engine, improving its performance and usability. For more information, click here.

The BioDynaMo project is funded with the support of CERN’s budget for knowledge transfer for the benefit of medical applications and of the CERN and Society Foundation. Find out how you can support the BioDynaMo project here.

Key insights from SC conference unveil future of high-performance computing

Denver Convention Centre where SC23 took place (Image: Jo Ramsey, SC Photography)

Denver Convention Centre where SC23 took place (Image: Jo Ramsey, SC Photography)

The Supercomputing Conference (SC) 2023 in Denver provided a glimpse into the future of high-performance computing (HPC), networking, and storage solutions, with a focus on emerging technologies. The integration of novel approaches in computing took centre stage, particularly in the realms of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and quantum computing.

The conference addressed key challenges faced by CERN, notably the impending massive data production from high-energy experiments. Discussions revolved around methods and technologies to efficiently handle this data surge. Sustainability and efficiency were emphasised, with a need for performance portability across various accelerator devices. The move to 400 and 800Gb/s networking emerged as a crucial aspect of managing the expanded capacity of CERN data centres.

Collaborative opportunities for research institutions were discussed, with a focus on engaging with industry partners. “SC was an excellent opportunity to discuss face to face with our existing partners as well as meet with potential new ones, in order to put the basis for future CERN openlab projects and co-development with industry on a broad range of areas such as next generation memory and storage, built-in accelerators, AI exploitation, digital twins, distributed analysis frameworks/facilities, and novel accelerator devices,” says Maria Girone, head of CERN openlab along with her team. Green computing and energy awareness were also important points in the discussions, aligning with important goals in high-energy physics computing.

Reflecting on the conference, the CERN openlab team highlighted the rapid transformation of the HPC landscape. Trends included the continuous increase in data centre hardware power consumption, the rise of integrated and dedicated appliances, and the growing popularity of purely cloud-based services. Quantum computing, with its potential for a major impact, remained a significant consideration.

Applications open for 2024 CERN openlab summer student programme

summer students

Are you a Bachelor's or Master's student in computer science, mathematics, engineering or physics? Do you have a strong computing profile, and would you be interested in working on advanced computing projects at CERN during the summer of 2024? If so, we have just the solution for you...the CERN openlab summer student programme.

CERN openlab is a unique public-private partnership that accelerates the development of cutting-edge computing technologies for the worldwide LHC community and the wider scientific research field. Through CERN openlab, CERN collaborates with leading technology companies and research institutes.

Over nine weeks (June-August 2024), the CERN openlab summer students will work with some of the latest hardware and software technologies, and see how advanced IT solutions are used in particle physics. The students will also participate in a series of lectures prepared for them by computing experts at CERN, in addition to the main lecture series for CERN summer students. Visits to the accelerators and experimental areas are also included in the programme.

CERN is a place where dizzying IT challenges abound. The CERN openlab summer student programme may lead to follow-on projects in your home institute, or may even inspire you to become an entrepreneur in cutting-edge computing technologies.

The applications for the CERN openlab summer student programme 2024 are currently closed. 

You can find out all about the work carried out by our 2023 students here.