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CyVerse.Org
CyVerse.Org was launched in 2008 as the iPlant Collaborative, a National Science Foundation (NSF) project originally focused on plant biology data...
CyVerse.Org
CyVerse.Org was launched in 2008 as the iPlant Collaborative, a National Science Foundation (NSF) project originally focused on plant biology data infrastructure. It rebranded to CyVerse in 2015 to reflect a broader life-sciences mission. The principal investigator and project lead has historically been Nirav Merchant, based at the University of Arizona, with co-investigators at the University of Oklahoma and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The platform provides a unified computational environment covering data management (using iRODS), high-performance computing access, and containerized analysis pipelines. Supported asset classes include genomics, phenomics, and imaging data with tools for machine learning and statistical modeling. CyVerse's current NSF award, Cyberinfrastructure for Sustained Scientific Innovation (CSSI), runs through 2023 with a five-year budget of $15 million. Confirmed user community clusters include the Arabidopsis Research Community, the Maize Genetics Cooperation, and the iMicrobe project for marine microbiology. Geographic footprint spans NSF-funded institutions across the US, with partner projects in Australia and the European Union. The project supports over 30 full-time staff distributed among the Tucson headquarters, Tulsa (University of Oklahoma), and Tel Aviv (via a collaboration with the University of Haifa). A 2019 renewal grant from the NSF provided $12.5 million in additional funding. CyVerse also maintains relationships with Jetstream2 (an NSF cloud) and the XSEDE ecosystem. Adjacent vehicles include the CyVerse Learning Institute, which offers training workshops and certification programs. A structural differentiator is CyVerse's open architecture: it exposes APIs and uses an extensible plugin model, allowing any research group to build domain-specific interfaces on top of the core infrastructure. This contrasts with commercial cloud platforms that lock data into proprietary ecosystems. CyVerse also operates a formal governance board with rotating representation from the life-sciences community, ensuring that platform development aligns with researcher needs rather than commercial priorities.
General information
Firm type
other
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Middle East
Country
United States
City
Tucson
Corporate office
Tucson, AZ, United States
Additional offices
Tulsa, OK, United States · Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
How does CyVerse.Org differ from commercial cloud providers like AWS or Google Cloud for life-sciences research?
CyVerse provides a domain-specific layer on top of cloud infrastructure, with pre-configured tools and workflows for biological data types, such as genomic assembly or phenotyping. It also offers dedicated user support and a governance model driven by the research community, which reduces the need for researchers to manage cloud services themselves, per the project's NSF proposal documentation.
What is the governance structure of CyVerse, and who controls its direction?
CyVerse is governed by a set of principal investigators appointed by the NSF, currently led by Nirav Merchant at the University of Arizona. A community advisory board with external scientists provides recommendations on feature prioritization. The NSF's CSSI program reviews the project via competitive renewal every five years, ensuring alignment with broader scientific priorities, per the NSF award database.
Is CyVerse free to use for all researchers, or are there access restrictions?
CyVerse accounts are free for any researcher affiliated with a US institution or international partner through an NSF-recognized collaboration. The project's NSF funding covers most operational costs. Non-academic commercial users are not granted accounts by default, though partnerships with companies for specific data management needs may be accommodated per CyVerse's public collaboration policy.
What types of data can be analyzed on CyVerse, and are there storage limits?
Users can store and analyze genomic sequences, ecological observations, imaging data, and tabular datasets. The platform offers five petabytes of storage via the Data Store. Individual user quotas are typically 1 terabyte, but researchers with larger needs can request allocation increases through a proposal review process, per CyVerse's general documentation.
Does CyVerse operate any commercial or for-profit subsidiaries?
No. CyVerse is entirely a nonprofit academic cyberinfrastructure project funded by federal grants from the NSF and other agencies. It does not have any equity arms, venture funds, or operating companies. Any software developed under CyVerse is released under open-source licenses, as recorded in its GitHub repositories.
How does CyVerse handle data security and compliance for sensitive biological data?
CyVerse operates under the University of Arizona's security policies and complies with US federal data handling standards for research data. It does not currently hold HIPAA or CMMC certifications, so it is not designed for protected health information or controlled unclassified military data. The platform recommends that users de-identify sensitive samples before uploading, per its security guidelines.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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