Parabon Computation's compute against cancer programme provides resources to University of Maryland researchersFairFax 20 February 2001 Parabon Computation, Inc. will apply its vast distributed computing resources to the protein folding study being conducted by the University of Maryland's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Parabon's Frontier computing platform will provide the essential and unprecedented computational resources necessary to perform the compute-intensive calculations associated with protein folding simulations, critical to understanding disease and the development of treatments and cures.
Protein folding is the process by which strings of amino acids (proteins) take
on three-dimensional shapes that determine their function. Various forms of
cancer in addition to diseases such as Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis and sickle
cell anemia are formed when a defect occurs in the folding process.
Understanding the complex nature of this behavior may give researchers the vital
information they need to determine how to combat these diseases.
Some proteins also have natural tendencies to prevent or fight disease. For
example, the P53 "Tumor Suppressor" protein is known to be involved in important
metabolic pathways for the body's destruction of precancerous cells.
Understanding the structure of proteins like P53 can be crucial to discovering
new cancer treatments, and to finding ways to prevent cancer altogether.
Dr. Devarajan "Dave" Thirumalai, a University of Maryland professor and
recognized researcher, is spearheading the protein folding study. Thirumalai's
team has validated the ability to improve the speed of their research by using
Frontier for calculations that previously required a cluster of high-powered
Alpha workstations. As a result of the successes achieved to date, Thirumalai
plans to extend his use of Frontier to analyze full protein structures --
research that has yet to be conducted by any organization due to the lack of
affordable computing power in the marketplace.
Frontier works by dividing large computer jobs into small tasks and sending them
over the Internet to thousands of computers. While the user is away from his or
her desk, the computer processes the task and sends the results back to Parabon.
Thirumalai's team will capitalize on the power of Frontier in their analyses of
full protein structures.
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