<s>
The	O
Visible	B-General_Concept
Embryo	I-General_Concept
Project	I-General_Concept
(	O
VEP	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
multi-institutional	O
,	O
multidisciplinary	O
research	O
project	O
originally	O
created	O
in	O
the	O
early	O
1990s	O
as	O
a	O
collaboration	O
between	O
the	O
Developmental	O
Anatomy	O
Center	O
at	O
the	O
National	O
Museum	O
of	O
Health	O
and	O
Medicine	O
and	O
the	O
Biomedical	O
Visualization	O
Laboratory	O
(	O
BVL	O
)	O
at	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Illinois	O
at	O
Chicago	O
,	O
"	O
to	O
develop	O
software	O
strategies	O
for	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
distributed	O
biostructural	O
databases	O
using	O
cutting-edge	O
technologies	O
for	O
high-performance	O
computing	O
and	O
communications	O
(	O
HPCC	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
to	O
implement	O
these	O
tools	O
in	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
a	O
large-scale	O
digital	O
archive	O
of	O
multidimensional	O
data	O
on	O
normal	O
and	O
abnormal	O
human	O
development.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
areas	O
that	O
VEP	O
researchers	O
pioneered	O
include	O
early	O
web	O
technologies	O
,	O
cloud	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
,	O
blockchain	B-Application
,	O
and	O
virtual	B-Protocol
assistant	I-Protocol
technology	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Standard	O
techniques	O
for	O
3D	O
volume	B-Application
visualization	I-Application
could	O
then	O
be	O
applied	O
to	O
these	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
VEP	O
became	O
a	O
far-reaching	O
collaborative	O
research	O
program	O
involving	O
a	O
large	O
number	O
of	O
eminent	O
scientists	O
across	O
the	O
nation	O
and	O
around	O
the	O
world	O
,	O
including	O
,	O
among	O
many	O
others	O
,	O
Michael	O
Doyle	O
,	O
of	O
UIC	O
,	O
then	O
UCSF	O
,	O
and	O
project	O
founder	O
,	O
Adrianne	O
Noe	O
,	O
Director	O
of	O
the	O
National	O
Museum	O
of	O
Health	O
and	O
Medicine	O
,	O
George	O
Washington	O
University	O
's	O
Robert	O
Ledley	O
,	O
inventor	O
of	O
the	O
Full-body	O
CT	O
scanner	O
,	O
UIUC	O
's	O
Paul	O
Lauterbur	O
,	O
MRI	B-Algorithm
pioneer	O
and	O
Nobel	O
laureate	O
,	O
LSU	O
's	O
Ray	O
Gasser	O
,	O
eminent	O
embryologist	O
,	O
Oregon	O
Health	O
&	O
Science	O
University	O
's	O
Kent	O
Thornburg	O
,	O
internationally	O
renown	O
developmental	O
biologist	O
,	O
Regan	O
Moore	O
,	O
Director	O
of	O
the	O
DICE	O
group	O
at	O
the	O
San	O
Diego	O
Supercomputer	O
Center	O
,	O
William	O
Lennon	O
of	O
Lawrence	O
Livermore	O
National	O
Laboratory	O
,	O
Ingrid	O
Carlbom	O
of	O
Digital	O
Equipment	O
Corporation	O
's	O
Cambridge	O
Research	O
Lab	O
,	O
and	O
Demetri	O
Terzopoulos	O
of	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Toronto	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
notable	O
Visible	B-General_Concept
Embryo	I-General_Concept
Project	I-General_Concept
collaborations	O
include	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Human	O
Embryology	O
Digital	O
Library	O
and	O
Collaboratory	O
Support	O
Tools	O
project	O
was	O
begun	O
in	O
1999	O
as	O
a	O
demonstration	O
of	O
the	O
biomedical	O
application	O
potential	O
of	O
the	O
Next	B-Protocol
Generation	I-Protocol
Internet	I-Protocol
(	O
NGI	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2011	O
,	O
Doyle	O
collaborated	O
with	O
Steven	O
Landers	O
,	O
Maurice	O
Pescitelli	O
,	O
and	O
others	O
to	O
use	O
zMap	O
to	O
create	O
an	O
interactive	O
tool	O
that	O
allows	O
the	O
user	O
to	O
select	O
desired	O
sets	O
of	O
anatomical	O
structures	O
for	O
the	O
automated	O
generation	O
of	O
3D	O
Quicktime	B-Application
VR	I-Application
visualizations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
system	O
then	O
automatically	O
progressed	O
through	O
a	O
pre-defined	O
set	O
of	O
rotations	O
to	O
generate	O
the	O
set	O
of	O
image	O
frames	O
required	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
Quicktime	B-Application
VR	I-Application
(	O
QTVR	B-Application
)	O
interactive	O
movie	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Over	O
the	O
decades	O
since	O
it	O
was	O
begun	O
,	O
the	O
work	O
done	O
in	O
the	O
Visible	B-General_Concept
Embryo	I-General_Concept
Project	I-General_Concept
has	O
led	O
to	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
several	O
important	O
technological	O
breakthroughs	O
that	O
have	O
had	O
a	O
worldwide	O
impact	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
their	O
2001	O
U.S.	O
patent	O
application	O
states	O
,	O
their	O
system	O
solved	O
the	O
need	O
"	O
to	O
gather	O
gene	O
expression	O
data	O
in	O
a	O
manner	O
that	O
supports	O
the	O
type	O
of	O
exploratory	O
research	O
that	O
can	O
take	O
advantage	O
of	O
the	O
broad-spectrum	O
types	O
of	O
biologic	O
activity	O
analysis	O
enabled	O
by	O
today	O
's	O
microarray	O
tools	O
,	O
"	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
need	O
for	O
"	O
technology	O
to	O
allow	O
the	O
collection	O
of	O
large	O
volumes	O
of	O
these	O
types	O
of	O
data	O
,	O
to	O
enable	O
exploratory	O
investigations	O
into	O
patterns	O
of	O
biologic	O
activity	O
...	O
to	O
correlate	O
gene	O
expression	O
data	O
with	O
morphological	O
structure	O
in	O
a	O
useful	O
and	O
easy	O
to	O
understand	O
manner	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
in	O
a	O
volume	B-Application
visualization	I-Application
environment	O
...	O
to	O
allow	O
the	O
collection	O
of	O
larger	O
volumes	O
of	O
gene	O
expression	O
data	O
across	O
a	O
wider	O
spectrum	O
of	O
gene	O
types	O
than	O
ever	O
before.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
create	O
the	O
underlying	O
software	O
and	O
hardware	O
that	O
would	O
provide	O
the	O
needed	O
computational	O
power	O
for	O
the	O
VEP	O
,	O
Doyle	O
's	O
CKM	O
group	O
designed	O
a	O
new	O
paradigm	O
for	O
performing	O
remote	O
client-server	O
volume	B-Application
visualization	I-Application
over	O
the	O
Internet	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
involved	O
creating	O
a	O
system	O
for	O
remotely	O
computing	O
visualizations	O
through	O
a	O
networked	O
cluster	O
,	O
or	O
cloud	O
,	O
of	O
distributed	O
heterogeneous	O
computational	O
engines	O
,	O
and	O
coordinating	O
the	O
computations	O
to	O
pass	O
user	O
interface	O
control	O
messages	O
to	O
those	O
engines	O
,	O
causing	O
the	B-Architecture
cloud	I-Architecture
computers	O
to	O
generate	O
new	O
rendered	O
visualizations	O
and	O
stream	O
the	O
resulting	O
views	O
to	O
the	O
users	O
 '	O
desktops	O
,	O
while	O
delta-encoding	O
and	O
compressing	O
the	O
streamed	O
data	O
to	O
optimize	O
performance	O
over	O
low-bandwidth	O
connections	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
hide	O
the	O
complexity	O
of	O
the	O
system	O
from	O
the	O
user	O
,	O
they	O
modified	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
earliest	O
versions	O
of	O
the	O
NCSA	B-Application
Mosaic	I-Application
Web	I-Application
browser	I-Application
to	O
allow	O
their	O
interactive	O
cloud-computing	B-Architecture
applications	O
to	O
be	O
automatically	O
launched	O
and	O
run	O
embedded	O
within	O
Web	O
pages	O
,	O
so	O
any	O
user	O
would	O
need	O
only	O
to	O
load	O
a	O
Web	O
document	O
from	O
the	O
VEP	O
and	O
would	O
be	O
able	O
to	O
immediately	O
interactively	O
explore	O
the	O
project	O
's	O
multidimensional	O
datasets	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
static	O
representations	O
of	O
those	O
datasets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
November	O
1993	O
,	O
the	O
CKM	O
's	O
VEP	O
research	O
group	O
demonstrated	O
this	O
system	O
,	O
the	O
first	O
Web-based	B-Architecture
Cloud	I-Architecture
application	I-Architecture
platform	I-Architecture
,	O
on-stage	O
to	O
a	O
meeting	O
of	O
approximately	O
300	O
Bay	O
Area	O
SIGWEB	O
members	O
at	O
Xerox	O
PARC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
led	O
to	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
the	O
first	O
three-dimensional	O
Web	O
image	B-General_Concept
map	I-General_Concept
system	O
and	O
was	O
used	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
online	O
interactive	O
reference	O
systems	O
for	O
biomedical	O
education	O
and	O
research	O
throughout	O
the	O
90s	O
and	O
beyond	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
system	O
allows	O
the	O
validation	O
of	O
data	O
integrity	O
without	O
requiring	O
users	O
of	O
the	O
system	O
to	O
trust	O
any	O
central	O
authority	O
,	O
and	O
also	O
represented	O
the	O
first	O
forward-signature-blockchain	B-Application
system	O
,	O
enabling	O
the	O
later	O
creation	O
of	O
the	O
Bitcoin	B-Protocol
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
mid-2000s	O
,	O
this	O
technology	O
was	O
adopted	O
as	O
a	O
national	O
standard	O
in	O
the	O
ANSI	B-Protocol
ASC	I-Protocol
X9.95	I-Protocol
Standard	I-Protocol
for	O
trusted	O
timestamps	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
increase	O
the	O
efficiency	O
of	O
these	O
communications	O
,	O
Michael	O
Doyle	O
and	O
Steve	O
Landers	O
collaborated	O
to	O
create	O
the	O
Skybot	O
system	O
,	O
the	O
first	O
AI-based	O
mobile	O
virtual	B-Protocol
assistant	I-Protocol
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
provided	O
the	O
user	O
with	O
a	O
surprisingly	O
broad	O
and	O
powerful	O
set	O
of	O
capabilities	O
for	O
automating	O
mobile	O
communication	O
operations	O
and	O
pioneered	O
the	O
mobile	O
intelligent-assistant	B-Protocol
product	O
category	O
that	O
is	O
now	O
ubiquitous	O
worldwide	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Plans	O
are	O
underway	O
to	O
secure	O
the	O
funding	O
necessary	O
to	O
expand	O
the	O
Visible	B-General_Concept
Embryo	I-General_Concept
Project	I-General_Concept
to	O
create	O
a	O
national	O
resource	O
that	O
combines	O
large-scale	O
knowledgebase	O
with	O
advanced	O
analytical	O
tools	O
in	O
an	O
innovative	O
online	O
collaborative	O
environment	O
to	O
support	O
and	O
continue	O
to	O
advance	O
the	O
art	O
and	O
science	O
of	O
Spatial	O
Omics	O
.	O
</s>
