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On November 14th, an independent study named IBM's BlueGene/L system as the world’s most powerful supercomputer in the world. The system developed with IBM's primary partner, the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Agency, is installed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Blue Gene/L Science Program
IBM has a team of life sciences researchers at the T.J. Watson Research Center developing Blue Matter - the application software used to run simulations of protein dynamics on the Blue Gene/L hardware. For the first time, the Blue Gene Science team at IBM Research is running production science experiments on membrane proteins on a 512-node Blue Gene prototype system.
Experiments that were taking a month or more on a conventional system are now taking a few days on the powerful Blue Gene/L prototype.
 G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCR) in a membrane environment
The Blue Gene Science team at the IBM T.J. Watson Research selected a GPCR for their initial work on Blue Gene/L because these membrane proteins represent more than half the current drug targets and a market of tens of billions of dollars annually. Examples of diseases currently treated with drugs that target GPCRs: congestive heart failure, hypertension, stroke, cancer, ulcers, allergies, asthma, anxiety, psychosis, migraines, Parkinson's disease (source: http://www.predixpharm.com/market_table.htm) [ More picture options ] [ Get permission to re-use ]  Lipids critical to cell division and fusion
Lipids provide the environment for membrane proteins that enable critical functions including cell signaling and cell division. Studying lipids is crucial to understanding diseases related to membrane proteins, which include most of the major diseases, including cancer, congestive heart failure and Parkinson’s disease. One third of all proteins in the human body -- and half of all drug targets -- are membrane proteins. [ More picture options ] [ Get permission to re-use ]  Omega-3 Fatty acids and cholesterol
Omega-3 fatty acids and cholesterol are as important to diet and health as they are for understanding disease. They play essential roles in many of the most critical processes in biology. To better enable studies of how membrane proteins are affected by the membrane environment, the Blue Gene science team investigated a mixture of cholesterol and omega-3 fatty acids via atomic-level simulation with Blue Matter. These studies could provide new insights into understanding why cholesterol has a stiffening effect on cell membranes. [ More picture options ] [ Get permission to re-use ]  Rhodopsin - Membrane Protein
The Blue Gene Science team at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center selected membrane proteins for their initial work on Blue Gene/L because membrane processes enable cell signal detection, as well as ion and nutrient transport, and are the drug targets of the most of the world's major diseases. More than half the drug targets pursued by pharmaceutical companies are related to membrane-bound proteins. Diseases that are treated with drugs that target membrane proteins include: congestive heart failure, hypertension, stroke, cancer, ulcers, allergies, asthma, anxiety, psychosis, migraines and Parkinson's disease. [ More picture options ] [ Watch Video ] [ Get permission to re-use ]
A vision of the future
Artist's rendition of what the final Blue Gene/L machine will look like after it is installed at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab in early 2005.
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