Biological Sciences
Proteins are great at their jobs—the most efficient machines on earth. But scientists believe there are ways to increase their efficiency and speed at tasks that have taken on a new urgency for humans, such as quickly and inexpensively converting cellulose in grass and wood into ethanol to produce transportation fuels. Also, biologists are looking for ways to reform proteins gone bad, like those whose shapes become corrupted to produce prions, the harbingers of disorders such as Alzheimer’s and mad-cow disease.
Biological research teams are using the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility supercomputers to build the knowledge base required to realize the potential of protein engineering. They are revealing how proteins in the cell membrane regulate the flow of materials into and out of the cell. Their discoveries will show us how to harness these molecular machines to expedite the productivity and speed of chemical processes, enable new types of industry, design new pharmaceuticals and medical therapies, and improve human lives in myriad ways.
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Advanced Modeling of the Human Skin Barrier Principal Investigator: Michael Klein, Temple University |
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Cellulosic Ethanol: Simulation of Multicomponent Biomass System Principal Investigator: Jeremy Smith, Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
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Petascale Computing of Biomolecular Systems Principal Investigator: Klaus Schulten, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
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Simulations of Ribosome Biogenesis and Cellular Processes Principal Investigator: Zan Luthey-Schulten, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
