World’s most powerful supercomputers are being used to speed coronavirus treatment

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Scientists are using the world’s most powerful supercomputers to speed up the development of treatments for the deadly coronavirus

  • Supercomputers are able to process information on the deadly virus quickly
  • This will allow scientists to get a vaccine ready faster than is usually possible
  • The computer screen libraries of potential antiviral drugs for use on COVID-19 

By Ryan Morrison For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Supercomputers around the world are being used to speed up the search for a treatment for the deadly coronavirus that has put the world in lockdown. 

Researchers from University College London say the powerful machines can process information in days that would take a regular computer months to compute.  

This means they can screen libraries of potential antiviral drugs, including those that have already been licensed to treat other diseases very quickly.

University College London scientists have access to some of the most powerful machines in the world as part of a consortium of global institutions.

Supercomputers around the world are being used to speed up the search for a treatment for the deadly coronavirus that has put the world in lockdown

The UCL team are working with more than 100 researchers from across the US and Europe the get the most out of these powerful machines in the COVID-19 battle. 

‘We are using the immense power of supercomputers to rapidly search vast numbers of potential compounds that could inhibit the novel coronavirus,’ said Professor Peter Coveney from UCL.

They are then ‘using the same computers again, but with different algorithms, to refine that list to the compounds with the best binding affinity.’

The world’s fastest supercomputer, known as Summit, at Oak Ridge National Lab in the US and the world number nine, SuperMUC-NG in Germany, are included.

The machines can analyse libraries of drug compounds to identify those capable of binding to the spikes on the surface of coronavirus.

These spikes are what the deadly virus that has spread around the world, uses to invade cells.

By creating drug compounds that are capable of binding to these spikes, researchers say they’ll be able to prevent the virus from infecting human cells. 

‘That way, we are identifying the most promising compounds ahead of further investigations in a traditional laboratory to find the most effective treatment or vaccination for Covid-19,’ said Coveney.

The machines can analyse libraries of drug compounds to identify those capable of binding to the spikes on the surface of coronavirus

The machines can analyse libraries of drug compounds to identify those capable of binding to the spikes on the surface of coronavirus

These machines could help by identifying virus proteins or parts of protein that stimulate immunity which could be used to develop a vaccine.

They can also study the spread of the virus within communities, as well as analysing its origin and structure, and how it interacts with human cells.

‘This is a much quicker way of finding suitable treatments than the typical drug development process,’ Professor Coveney continued.

‘It normally takes pharmaceutical companies 12 years and two billion dollars to take one drug from discovery to market but we are rewriting the rules by using powerful computers to find a needle in a haystack in a fraction of that time and cost.’

HUMAN BRAIN WILL CONNECT TO COMPUTERS ‘WITHIN DECADES’

In a new paper published in the Frontiers in Neuroscience, researchers embarked on an international collaboration that predicts groundbreaking developments in the world of ‘Human Brain/Cloud Interface’s’ within the next several decades.

Using a combination of nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and other more traditional computing, researchers say humans will be able to seamlessly connect their brains to a cloud of computer(s) to glean information from the internet in real-time.

According to Robert Freitas Jr., senior author of the research, a fleet of nanobots embedded in our brains would act as liaisons to humans’ minds and supercomputers, to enable ‘matrix style’ downloading of information.

‘These devices would navigate the human vasculature, cross the blood-brain barrier, and precisely autoposition themselves among, or even within brain cells,’ explains Freitas.

‘They would then wirelessly transmit encoded information to and from a cloud-based supercomputer network for real-time brain-state monitoring and data extraction.’

The interfaces wouldn’t just stop at linking humans and computers, say researchers. A network of brains could also help form what they call a ‘global superbrain’ that would allow for collective thought.