Nov. 1, 2005 Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have
set a new world's record by performing the first million-atom
computer simulation in biology. Using the "Q Machine"
supercomputer, Los Alamos computer scientists have created a
molecular simulation of the cell's protein-making structure, the
ribosome. The project, simulating 2.64 million atoms in motion,
is more than six times larger than any biological simulations
performed to date. The ribosome is the ancient molecular factory
responsible for synthesizing proteins in all organisms. Using
the new tool, the Los Alamos team led by Kevin Sanbonmatsu is
the first to observe the entire ribosome in motion at atomic
detail. This first simulation of the ribosome offers a new
method for identifying potential antibiotic targets for such
diseases as anthrax. Until now, only static, snapshot structures
of the ribosome have been available. A paper describing the
effort will appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, Oct. 24 edition. Sanbo