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Supercomputer Joins the HIV Fight


April 3, 2008

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh School of Physics in Scotland are using the Blue Gene family of supercomputers from IBM Corp. to speed development of drugs to combat the HIV virus.

The project combines supercomputing with laboratory experiments to assist in the design of drugs that can inhibit human cell infection by the virus.

The focus is on how the HIV virus attaches to cells in the body. Researchers are examining a fragment of the surface protein of the virus, known as a peptide, which is crucial to stimulating the body’s immune response to a virus attack. Understanding the structure and behavior of the peptide will enable multiple drugs to be designed simultaneously that are capable of preventing infection.

To do that, researchers are using Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM’s Blue Gene supercomputer to run sophisticated algorithms to probe the properties of peptides and amino acids. Peptides are the building blocks of proteins, which are important to developing antiviral therapies.

The university in 2004 installed the first Blue Gene supercomputer in Europe, according to the vendor. More information is available at ed.ac.uk/about/structure/physics.html.

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