11/20/2013
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At the 2013 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC13), an Illinois team of researchers that included CS Professor Laxmikant (Sanjay) Kale received the HPCwire Editors’ Choice Award for Best Use of HPC in Life Sciences for the use of the Blue Waters supercomputer to achieve a significant breakthrough in the understanding of HIV. The 2013 HPCwire Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards were announced at the start of the Opening Reception at SC13 in Denver, Colorado.
The award recognizes research conducted by Physics Professor Klaus Schulten and his collaborators, including Kale. Using the NAMD molecular dynamics code developed by Kale and his research group, Schulten and his team used Blue Waters to determine the precise chemical structure of the HIV capsid, a protein shell that protects the virus’s genetic material and is a key to its virulence. The capsid has become an attractive target for the development of new antiretroviral drugs. The results of the team’s unprecedented 64-million-atom simulation were published earlier this year in the journal Nature.
The HPCwire Editors’ Choice Awards are chosen by a panel of editors, staff executives and HPC luminaries. Widely recognized as one of the most prestigious awards presented during the annual Supercomputing Conference, the award honor demonstrated excellence and outstanding technological advancements achieved by the HPC community.