Ranger Supercomputer For Texas Computing Center

Ranger Supercomputer For Texas Computing Center

Understanding HIV drug-resistance: A snapshot of the HIV-1 protease (a key protein that is the target for the protease inhibitor drugs) from a computational simulation. Mutations from the "wildtype" can occur within the active site (G48V) and at remote locations along the protein chain (L90M ). The "asp dyad" is at the centre of the active site, where polyprotein changes are snipped by the enzyme; this is the region that any drug must occupy and block.

Credit: Peter Coveney, University College London. Texas Advanced Computing Center.

Ranger, the most powerful supercomputing system in the world for open science research, entered full production on Feb. 4. Open science research makes clear accounts of methodology, along with data and results extracted therefrom, freely available. Ranger, which will enable the leading scientists in the country to advance and accelerate computational research in all scientific disciplines, was dedicated by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) on Feb. 22 at the University of Texas at Austin. NSF's Office of Cyberinfrastructure Director Daniel E. Atkins represented NSF at the ceremony and delivered remarks on this historic occasion.

"Ranger is the first leadership computational resource provided under the National Science Foundation 'Track 2 initiative' and the first machine funded through the newly formed Office of Cyberinfrastructure," he said. The Track 2 initiative is NSF's four-year activity designed to fund the deployment and operation of up to four leading-edge computing systems that will greatly increase the availability of computing resources to U.S. researchers. The Ranger award, the largest NSF grant to the University of Texas at Austin, was made after the evaluation of selection criteria that were "multi-faceted, including not only raw performance of the machine, but also effective education and outreach commitments, institutional competency and commitment for service to the national research community," noted Atkins.........