Researchers at the University of Edinburgh and IBM's TJ Watson Research Center will work together on a five-year research project that teams up simulations on a supercomputer and lab experiments to design drugs to fight HIV.
"Our early results are promising, showing that we can use computers to simulate which molecules can stop the HIV virus from infecting humans, which drug makers could then use to more rapidly develop those drugs," said Jason Crain, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Physics and Divisional Head of Science at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK. "This is a new approach to drug design -- we are using sophisticated algorithms coupled with experimental techniques to design improved molecular therapies, and we can capitalise on enormous computing power to do this efficiently and rationally."
The project combines powerful computing technology, including IBM's Blue Gene supercomputer, with an experimental approach that designs inhibitors for the part of the virus that allows the virus' genetic material to enter the human cell.
"One of the great challenges in the medical community is to find a vaccine for the HIV virus," said IBM Researcher Glenn Martyna. "By combining the experimental research of University of Edinburgh and the simulation capabilities of the world's most powerful supercomputer, IBM's Blue Gene, we just might get much closer to that goal."
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IBM and University of Edinburgh Use World's Most Advanced Supercomputer to Tackle HIV Virus before It Infects Human Cells (press release) (US)