Australia unleashes twin AI supercomputers in push to lead medical, climate research
Australia's AI supercomputing ambitions are hitting top gear, with two major launches unveiled this week that aim to supercharge research in medicine, climate science, and more.In Melbourne, La Trobe University has switched on the country's first AI supercomputer of its kind—a NVIDIA DGX H200 system—dedicated to transforming medical research.Located at NEXTDC's data centre in Tullamarine, the supercomputer is backed by $10 million from the Allan Labor Government.Minister for Economic Growth and Jobs Danny Pearson, who visited the site, said: 'Victoria is proud to be home to this supercomputer that will deliver more medical breakthroughs and improve healthcare for Victorians and people around the world.'
The system will enable the Australian Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Medical Innovation (ACAMI) to analyse large volumes of health data and complex 3D imaging in hours, drastically reducing research time for projects such as clinical trials, precision oncology, immunotherapy, and cardiovascular risk prediction.'The potential of AI in medical and biotech research is huge,' said La Trobe Vice-Chancellor Professor Theo Farrell.'The DGX H200 enables faster translation of research into clinical trials and personalised therapies.'The supercomputer will also support innovations in digital pathology and cancer relapse-risk prediction, with early projects including a partnership with The Florey Institute on rare neurological diseases such as Niemann-Pick type C.'The super processing performance of NVIDIA DGX H200 systems will help us explore more options and get results faster,' said Dr Ya Hui Hung from The Florey.Meanwhile, Monash University has announced its own major push into AI computing with MAVERIC—short for Monash AdVanced Environment for Research and Intelligent Computing.Backed by a AU$60 million (US$39 million) investment, the system will be built over the next two years, with activation expected in 2026.
According to the university, MAVERIC will 'fill a critical gap in Australia's high-performance computing infrastructure,' and position the institution as a 'leader in AI-driven research within the international higher education and research sector.'The platform will initially be used for early cancer detection, managing chronic diseases, empowering clinical trials, and accelerating drug discovery. It will also power climate change and planetary health research, analysing complex datasets related to air quality, Antarctic ecosystems, and the effects of heat on populations.'Investment in world-leading AI is a crucial step in supercharging our sovereign research capabilities,' said Monash Vice-Chancellor Sharon Pickering.'Monash is a well-established ecosystem of world-class researchers, health networks and partners with large-scale data and pre-identified massive research questions ready to be solved… Until now, the missing link has been the necessary compute infrastructure to fully maximise this opportunity,' she added.The university said MAVERIC will be powered entirely by renewable energy, aligning with its net-zero targets. It also plans to use the platform for training students in ethical, human-centred AI development across undergraduate and postgraduate levels.Monash already operates high-performance systems like M3 and MonARCH, comprising thousands of CPU cores and multiple GPU nodes.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
If books could kill: The poison legacy lurking in libraries
The Victorians loved the colour green. In particular, they loved a vibrant shade of emerald created by combining copper and arsenic, which was used in everything from wallpaper to children's toys. "This colour was very popular for most of the 19th Century because of its vibrancy and its resistance to light fading," says Erica Kotze, a preservative conservator at the University of St Andrews. "We know that many household items were coloured with arsenic-based green pigments. It was even used in confectionery." The trouble is, the combination of elements used is toxic and that's still a problem more than a century later. And it's a particular problem when it comes to old books. Victorian bookbinders used arsenic as well as mercury and chrome to create striking covers. And unlike domestic items, books have survived in archives around the world, creating a 21st Century problem from 19th Century fashion. Prolonged exposure to multiple green books can cause low level arsenic poisoning. Long-term exposure can cause changes to the skin, harm to the liver and kidneys and a reduction in red and white blood cells, which can lead to anaemia and an increased risk of infections. In 2019, an attempt to tackle the problem was set up in Delaware between the Winterthur Museum and the state university. The Poison Book Project tested books and drew up a list of titles which are potentially harmful to humans. These included four books in the National Library of France, which were immediately withdrawn. Inspired by this, Erica Kotze called on her colleague Dr Pilar Gil, who trained as a biochemist before working in Special Collections at the University of St Andrews. Dr Gil took a practical approach to surveying the thousands of historic books in their collection. "The most important thing was to find a non-destructive, portable instrument that could tell us if it was a poisonous book or not," she says. She rule out X-ray technology because of the fragile nature of the books being examined and instead looked to the geology department. They had a spectrometer - a device that measures the distribution of different wavelengths of light - for detecting minerals in rocks. "Minerals and pigments are very similar," says Dr Gil, "so I borrowed the instrument and started looking for emerald green in books." She tested hundreds of books and then realised she was looking at a breakthrough. "I realised there was a distinctive pattern to the toxic ones. It was a 'eureka' moment. I realised it was something that no one had seen before." The next task was to speak to the physics department to build their own prototype. Dr Graham Bruce, senior research laboratory manager explains how it works. "It shines light on the book and measures the amount of light which shines back," he says. "It uses green light, which can be seen, and infrared, which can't be seen with our own eyes. The green light flashes when there are no fragments of arsenic present, the red light when there are pigments." The new testing device is smaller and will be less costly to produce and use than a full-scale spectrometer It has already been used to survey the thousands of books in the St Andrews collections and in the National Library of Scotland, and the team hope to share their design with other institutions around the world. "We're lucky as a large institution to have expensive kit, so that we can test 19th Century potentially toxic books," says Dr Jessica Burge, deputy director of library and museums at the University of St Andrews. "But other institutions with big collections may not have those resources, so we wanted to create something which was affordable and easy. It doesn't require a specialist conservator or analysis, and it's instant." It's also a problem which isn't going away. If anything, toxic books will become more harmful as they get older and disintegrate. Identifying them means they can stored in a safe way and still enjoyed with controlled access and precautions such as wearing gloves. "It will continue to be a live issue," says Dr Burge. "But I think that the biggest issue for institutions at the moment is that any book that's got a green cover from the 19th Century is being restricted because they don't know. "And as libraries and museums, that's not really what we're about. We want people to be able to use the books and help bring back access to collections, rather than restricting their use."
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Australia unleashes twin AI supercomputers in push to lead medical, climate research
Australia's AI supercomputing ambitions are hitting top gear, with two major launches unveiled this week that aim to supercharge research in medicine, climate science, and Melbourne, La Trobe University has switched on the country's first AI supercomputer of its kind—a NVIDIA DGX H200 system—dedicated to transforming medical at NEXTDC's data centre in Tullamarine, the supercomputer is backed by $10 million from the Allan Labor for Economic Growth and Jobs Danny Pearson, who visited the site, said: 'Victoria is proud to be home to this supercomputer that will deliver more medical breakthroughs and improve healthcare for Victorians and people around the world.' The system will enable the Australian Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Medical Innovation (ACAMI) to analyse large volumes of health data and complex 3D imaging in hours, drastically reducing research time for projects such as clinical trials, precision oncology, immunotherapy, and cardiovascular risk prediction.'The potential of AI in medical and biotech research is huge,' said La Trobe Vice-Chancellor Professor Theo Farrell.'The DGX H200 enables faster translation of research into clinical trials and personalised therapies.'The supercomputer will also support innovations in digital pathology and cancer relapse-risk prediction, with early projects including a partnership with The Florey Institute on rare neurological diseases such as Niemann-Pick type C.'The super processing performance of NVIDIA DGX H200 systems will help us explore more options and get results faster,' said Dr Ya Hui Hung from The Monash University has announced its own major push into AI computing with MAVERIC—short for Monash AdVanced Environment for Research and Intelligent by a AU$60 million (US$39 million) investment, the system will be built over the next two years, with activation expected in 2026. According to the university, MAVERIC will 'fill a critical gap in Australia's high-performance computing infrastructure,' and position the institution as a 'leader in AI-driven research within the international higher education and research sector.'The platform will initially be used for early cancer detection, managing chronic diseases, empowering clinical trials, and accelerating drug discovery. It will also power climate change and planetary health research, analysing complex datasets related to air quality, Antarctic ecosystems, and the effects of heat on populations.'Investment in world-leading AI is a crucial step in supercharging our sovereign research capabilities,' said Monash Vice-Chancellor Sharon Pickering.'Monash is a well-established ecosystem of world-class researchers, health networks and partners with large-scale data and pre-identified massive research questions ready to be solved… Until now, the missing link has been the necessary compute infrastructure to fully maximise this opportunity,' she university said MAVERIC will be powered entirely by renewable energy, aligning with its net-zero targets. It also plans to use the platform for training students in ethical, human-centred AI development across undergraduate and postgraduate already operates high-performance systems like M3 and MonARCH, comprising thousands of CPU cores and multiple GPU nodes.
Business Wire
2 days ago
- Business Wire
Seyltx Expands GluN2B Antagonist Pipeline with Clinical-Stage and Small-Molecule Candidates for Chronic Cough
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Seyltx, Inc., ('Seyltx', 'Company') a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on developing therapies to treat chronic cough, today announced it has entered into an option agreement with NeurOp, Inc. ('NeurOp'') for a portfolio of novel GluN2B antagonists. This agreement provides Seyltx with an option to worldwide, exclusive rights to develop and commercialize a portfolio of GluN2B negative allosteric modulators (NAMs) for treating chronic cough in humans, including in refractory chronic cough (RCC) and chronic cough associated with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF-Cough). "We are incredibly excited about this option agreement with NeurOp, which significantly strengthens our pipeline for chronic cough therapies," said Dr. Dietrich A. Stephan, Seyltx's CEO. This strategic agreement combines Seyltx's expertise in chronic cough therapeutic development with NeurOp's expertise in NMDA receptor biology and innovative GluN2B inhibitors. This combination complements and deepens Seyltx's ongoing development of Ifenprodil, a potent NMDA antagonist that is highly selective towards the GluN2B subunit, currently in Phase 2 development. The combined effort is expected to accelerate the development and commercialization of new therapies for chronic cough and solidify Seyltx's position as a leader in addressing this significant unmet medical need. The option agreement includes 8 novel compounds, including NP10679, which has completed Phase 1 and provides Seyltx with a second clinical-phase candidate, with the potential to provide differentiated performance compared to Ifenprodil. These compounds have excellent potency, selectivity, pharmacokinetics, solubility, and metabolism. Strong intellectual property exists across all optioned compounds. "We are incredibly excited about this option agreement with NeurOp, which significantly strengthens our pipeline for chronic cough therapies," said Dr. Dietrich A. Stephan, Seyltx's CEO. "Refractory chronic cough impacts approximately 6 million people in the USA alone, representing a substantial unmet medical need. Furthermore, chronic cough associated with IPF, an orphan condition affecting up to 140,000 people in the US, is a primary driver of deteriorated quality of life for these patients. Our agreement with NeurOp for advanced GluN2B NAMs, particularly NP10679, offers a promising avenue to provide potentially superior treatment options to these patients by addressing the condition with a centrally acting non-narcotic solution." Dr. James McNamara, Executive Chairman of NeurOp added, "NeurOp has been dedicated to advancing novel GluN2B-targeted therapies. This agreement with Seyltx is a testament to the sophistication of our team's expertise in the NMDA receptor biology and the development of our GluN2B antagonists. Seyltx's deep understanding and focus on chronic cough make them an ideal partner to further develop and bring these important compounds to patients in need. We look forward to a very productive partnership." NMDA is a validated therapeutic target in cough, with the only FDA-approved cough therapy being a non-specific NMDA antagonist. Preclinical research has identified the GluN2B subunit of NMDA as a primary target for cough suppression. Traditional non-specific NMDA antagonists have demonstrated limited efficacy due to dose limiting side effects. However, specifically targeting the GluN2B subunit, provides the potential to achieve robust cough suppression, while avoiding the adverse event profile observed with non-specific NMDA antagonists. The addition of NP10679 to the portfolio provides the opportunity to effectively engage the GluN2B receptor, below the safety threshold established in Phase 1, while offering a differentiated selectivity and efficacy profile compared to Ifenprodil. The option agreement has been approved by the management of both companies with a conversion to an exclusive world-wide license agreement anticipated within 12 months. About Seyltx: Seyltx ( is a clinical stage biotherapeutics company focused on developing innovative therapies to treat chronic cough and other neuronal hypersensitivity indications. Its lead indication is refractory chronic cough, a significant unmet medical need, with a follow-on opportunity in chronic cough associated with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF-Cough). Seyltx's lead compound is Ifenprodil, an NMDA receptor inhibitor highly selective towards the GluN2B subunit, which has completed a Phase 2a trial in chronic cough associated with IPF, with statistically significant reductions in cough from baseline at 12-weeks, and statistically significant improvements on all patient reported outcomes employed. Seyltx is currently progressing into Phase 2 crossover trials. About NeurOp: NeurOp, Inc. is a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Atlanta, Georgia that is developing small-molecule therapies for central nervous system disorders, including severe pain, treatment-resistant depression, subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and stroke. Its proprietary compounds selectively inhibit the GluN2B subunit of neuronal NMDA receptors and are designed for potential therapeutic benefit with an improved safety and tolerability profile relative to other NMDA receptor antagonists. Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements contained in this news release, other than statements of fact that are independently verifiable at the date hereof, may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, and other applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as 'expects,' 'anticipates,' 'believes,' 'intends,' 'estimates,' 'potential,' 'possible,' 'projects,' 'plans,' and similar expressions. Such statements, based as they are on the current expectations of management, inherently involve numerous important risks, uncertainties and assumptions, known and unknown, many of which are beyond Seyltx's control.
