InfraVis Call 2024

We are excited to announce that all approved projects from the 2024 InfraVis have now been initiated, and we are looking forward to yet another year of inspiring work together with our InfraVis users.

Infrastructure Development

To further develop the infrastructure, InfraVis has worked on a selection of projects to build the skills of its application experts and improve collaboration with other infrastructure projects. These efforts help strengthen technical knowledge and teamwork to support innovation and research.

Volume and slice visualization in the CAVE at LTH’s VR lab

The InfraVis node at Lund University has developed an application and workflow to visualize tomographic datasets in the immersive CAVE system at the Virtual Reality laboratory at LTH – Faculty of Engineering. The workflow was originally made for the LINXS hackathon SynchroMage: 3D Tomography and Visualisation for Earth’s Hidden Treasures – Environment and Climate theme, but after a positive evaluation from participants, also described in the following LINXS article, we have kept the development going.

Read more about the projects on InfraVis.se

Interactive tools for visualization of DNA, RNA, and protein structures

InfraVis is actively working to advance molecular visualization through collaboration. Joakim Bohlin, a DPhil graduate from Oxford University, and now working at the Chalmers node of InfraVis, has applied his expertise in DNA and protein structure analysis to develop AR and VR web applications. His previous work with oxView, a DNA origami design tool, provided a foundation for his latest project at InfraVis: WebXR applications for visualizing protein structures.

To support future collaborations between InfraVis and MAX IV, Joakim installed his OxJenga VR application onto the VR systems at MAX IV (available at reception). This allows users to explore PDB files from online repositories or their own files generated during beamtime, such as those from the MicroMAX Beamline at MAX IV. While static PDB files can be explored directly, animated files require some additional processing before they can be viewed in OxJenga. Users can also fork the GitHub project to add and explore their own PDB files.

This collaboration between InfraVis and MAX IV highlights the role of national infrastructure partnerships in supporting research and providing advanced tools for scientific exploration. These applications were also presented at the MAX IV Users’ Meeting 2025 in Lund, Sweden.

For more information or support, please contact Joakim or the InfraVis team.

Highlights

Joakim Bohlin

InfraVis at the 36th MAX IV User Meeting

InfraVis was honored to have been invited by MAX IV to deliver a 45-minute plenary presentation, shared by Anders Ynnerman and Kajsa M Paulsson, showcasing InfraVis and underscoring the critical role of scientific data visualization.

Additionally, four posters were presented by InfraVis:

Emanuel Larsson (LU): InfraVis – The National Research Infrastructure For Data Visualization

Carl Troein (LU): EXHALE – A Graphical User Interface for Analysing X-Ray Fluorescence Maps in Lung Tissue Research

Jonas Alhstedt (LU): Creating a virtual beamline environment

Joakim Bohlin (Chalmers): Interactive VR simulation of protein and nucleic acid structures

Joakim's VR demo, allowing attendees to explore proteins up close, was a huge hit, with a long line of eager participants!It’s inspiring to see so much interest in InfraVis, not only from researchers but also from key stakeholders, including representatives from Vinnova and the Swedish Research Council.

Collaborations

InfraVis Collaboration with NAISS

NAISS is a national infrastructure for computing and provides resources for computing, classical HPC computing, and AI/ML needs.

NAISS and InfraVis are collaborating to enhance user access to computing and visualization resources. This partnership helps researchers navigate available resources, apply for expert support, and develop tools for computing and AI/ML projects. A pilot project grants InfraVis researchers access to Alvis for digital twins. Future plans include workflows for in-situ visualization of simulations on NAISS and a visualization platform for the upcoming Arrhenius resource. This platform, similar to COSMOS at LUNARC, will enable direct visualizations without data movement. InfraVis experts will support NAISS users in scientific visualization, strengthening collaboration between the infrastructures.

InfraVis Collaboration with MAX IV

Sweden's largest infrastructure, MAX IV in Lund, is a world-leading synchrotron radiation facility, providing ultra-bright X-rays for cutting-edge research in physics, chemistry, materials science, and life sciences. Given that the use of MAX IV produces huge amounts of data, there is a need for data analysis support. As presented on MAX IV's website, InfraVis provides data analysis and visualization support, something that the user can apply for just by ticking a box already when applying for beam-time.

Events

Photo: Christine Grafström

InfraVis Days in Sundsvall 19th-20th March 2025

A big thank you to our wonderful hosts at Mid Sweden University in Sundsvall! InfraVis Days is a bi-annual event where the whole consortium gathers to exchange knowledge and work together. The program included in-depth workshops, seminars, and interesting presentations. The event also provided an invaluable opportunity to connect with colleagues from across Sweden in person.

Meet the InfraVis Application Experts

Tristan Bridge, Chalmers University

Tristan is a frontend developer with a background in interactive media and game design. At Infravis, he works primarily with map-based visualizations covering a wide range of research topics in the humanities. Utilizing tools such as IIIF images and point clouds, he has developed projects such as Extended Rephotography https://rephotography.dh.gu.se/ detailing the glacial environment in northwest Svalbard and Maritime Encounters, a portal showcasing seafaring navigation from 2450 BC to 50 AD around Europe.

Henrik Garde, Lund University

Expert in human behavior analysis and visualisation

Henrik's skills in 3D motion include capturing, assessment, analysis, and visualization, with workflows applicable across faculties. With extensive experience in research infrastructural services worldwide and a background in Computer Science, Communication, and Human Factors, he always keeps users' actual needs in focus.

Greetings from InfraVis Director Monica Billger and Management Team

As highlighted in the recent report 'Bottlenecks that delay the benefits of large-scale research infrastructure' from the Swedish Research Council, one of the major challenges researchers encounter is managing, analyzing, and visualizing data. We are proud that the Swedish Research Council has recognized InfraVis as a key infrastructure to unlocking Data Potential at facilities like MAX IV and ESS and are excited to carry on the good work together with our users.

Earlier this year, InfraVis applied for continued funding from the Swedish Research Council, and the results will be published this autumn. For a deeper dive into what InfraVis has been up to, our annual report will be published on infravis.se 1st April.