The Newest Supercomputer to Fight Diseases

Blue Gene Watson (BGW) is IBM's biggest supercomputer and currently ranks number three in the world.

It has 20 racks and at peak performance it processes 114 terraflops (FLOP - Floating Point Operations per Second). It has been deployed for scientific research, undertaking computations that couldn't be done successfully on less powerful computers.

Biological simulations are a good example of where the processing power of a supercomputer is needed.

In one project researchers are using BGW to help them understand what causes proteins to misfold.

Misfolding of proteins leads to a variety of diseases, including Alzheimer's.

By using simulations, scientists can gain a better understanding of the fundamental nature of proteins, and perhaps eventually use that understanding to find cures.

BGW may also play a part in finding a cure for a disease yet to come.

Researchers are also working to understand and anticipate the evolution and mutation of the avian flu virus.

Using advanced simulations and lab work, they are trying to understand how the virus might evolve in a human environment and how it might react to drugs. "The reason that creating an effective vaccine is so difficult is that by the vaccine is ready, the virus has already started to mutate" says Eric Kronstadt, director of the Deep Computing Systems department.

"By anticipating how the virus might mutate, we are trying to create vaccines that will prevent the virus from further evolving and surviving longer."

Using this supercomputer is more than a philanthropic gesture to advance the state of science.

Besides the fact that processing time is being sold at high prices, nowadays healthcare and biological research is a highly lucrative business, and pharmaceutical companies as among the most profitable on the global market.

But, if the purpose is right, and these supercomputers will be more widely used for medical purposes, it would be possible to find relief for most known diseases, hopefully for reasonable costs.