Dell Inc and Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have built Pearcey, a high performance computing cluster (HPC) to model and combat complications in post-child-birth surgery.
CSIRO computational modeller Dr Dayalan Gunasegaram is using Pearcey to develop an improved nylon mesh for use in pelvic organ prolapse surgery which could benefit the one-in-five Australian women who have surgery for the condition at some point in their lives.
"Current mesh implants that haven't been well designed for this purpose can lead to pain and discomfort, so we've teamed up with researchers from Monash University to develop an improved mesh for supporting prolapsed organs and treating the condition more effectively," Dr Gunasegaram said.
"Using the high performance computing capability of the Pearcey cluster we can simulate the stressful forces a patient would experience, such as during coughing or running, and model a variety of different situations to assess the mesh under stress."
"By focusing on these areas, we're able to reduce the amount of physical testing we need to carry out on animals and humans, and the associated ethical and financial costs.
The cluster is named after Australian ICT pioneer Dr Trevor Pearcey, who led the CSIRO project team that built one of the world's first digital computers, CSIR Mk1/ SIRAC. The cluster also supports CSIRO research in a broad range of other areas such as bioinformatics, fluid dynamics and materials science.
Pearcey delivers 230 nodes supporting data-intensive research and computational modelling.
Share
