This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). In recent years, graphics processing units( GPUs)have emerged as a powerful alternative to CPU based computing, especially for scientific computing. However, GPUs follow the stream programming model. It is completely different from traditional serial programming and requires the invention of entirely news set of algorithms to suit the architecture.
This project supports research into data-parallel algorithms to model multi-scale phenomena in biological systems using agent-based models (ABMs). ABMs capture system level behaviors of complex systems by simulating the local interactions of individual entities or agents. This project funds the acquisition of two graphics processing unit (GPU) racks and software development to support application of the previously developed algorithms in systems biology.