AUSTIN (Texas) - THE University of Texas is making its world-class supercomputers available to researchers working to find new ways to treat the H1N1 swine flu virus and other infectious diseases.
Researchers in Illinois and Utah have been given special access to Ranger, one of the world's most powerful supercomputers, to determine how to treat the new virus if it becomes more resistant to established anti-flu drugs.
FLU SIMULATIONS
Late last month, the swine flu team from the universities of Illinois and Utah asked UT's Texas Advanced Computing Centre for special access to Ranger.
They wanted to be able to use part of Ranger on an almost continuous basis over several weeks to make rapid progress, using computer models, simulating how the swine flu virus would interact with various anti-flu drugs.
Another research team at the University of Texas led by Lauren Ancel Meyers, an associate professor of integrative biology, is using Ranger's older sibling, called Lonestar, to develop software that helps public health officials make better decisions on how to intervene in disease epidemics.
Early fears about the swine flu virus have subsided since it appeared this spring. But the virus has spread worldwide with more than 19,000 cases reported and 117 fatalities.
Researchers are preparing for the possibility that the new flu virus will reappear, in a version that is deadlier and more drug-resistant. Other researchers, including Dr Meyers, are using the virus as a real-world example of the public health challenges posed by a fast-spreading infection.
UT's supercomputers typically are used for longer-term research on everything from the birth of stars to the advancement of nanoelectronics, but sometimes they do work under a much tighter schedule.
Last summer, the Texas Advanced Computing Centre worked closely with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to evaluate new and more computer-intensive hurricane-simulation software on Ranger during hurricane season.
Ranger, which cost US$59 million (S$85.4 million), can handle such complex simulations; it has the computing power of 30,000 desktops. -- AP
