It is proposed to purchase a multi-processor supercomputing resource capable of 1.8 Gigaflops / 1597 SPECfp92 peak computational performance. The system will serve a group of six researchers and their students in Biophysics, Chemistry and Physics departments working in the area of biomacromolecular structure, dynamics and folding research. The proposed system will enable them to carry out, amongst other things, ab initio computations to produce more precise biomolecular force field for use in and RNA structures based on NMR data, to theoretically simulate the dynamics of proteins, to refine Xray protein structures and to characterize the geometry of enzymatic transition states. The purchase of the supercomputing resource will provide for the training of theoretical and computational biochemists and biophysicists, as well as furnish an introduction to modern computational methodologies for students interested in experimental biochemistry and biophysics.
