Hormel Institute acquires major data storage upgrade for CryoEM electron microscope

With one of the largest needs for data storage in the state due to its bioinformatics research data and the Titan Krios cryo-electron microscopy research, Jeff McDonald, PhD, new director of The Hormel Institute’s Information Technology department, shared news of the technology expansion.  

McDonald stated that the amount of data storage required to meet the needs of cancer researchers at The Hormel Institute presented a very unusual challenge, and one which will only grow as The Institute grows.  McDonald joined The Hormel Institute in August and was a former top leader at the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute.

McDonald went on to say that ngineering teams at Atavium took a fresh look at the data storage challenge and designed an innovative and unchained solution to those needs with cutting edge technology, data lifecycle and provenance tools and analytics to make any IT administrator exuberant about storage.  He added that Atavium is easily on the forefront of designers.

Atavium’s performance/price benefits are delivered through a tunable tiered architecture that combines flash, hard drives, and cloud, as well as unique data classification, analytics features, and workflow automation.

The system will support the data derived from structural biologists using the cryo-electron microscope that enables researchers to identify effective ways to administer drugs for optimal results, and bioinformatics analysis that seeks commonalities that may assist with diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Atavium enables The Hormel Institute to support the needs of its 20+ cancer research section leaders and their teams (140 faculty, researchers and staff) which includes data provenance, cost effective, long term retention of data, isolation of data by owner to protect research product, workflow automation, and compliance with data use agreements.