Report of the Committee on Proposal Evaluation for Allocation of Supercomputing Time for the Study of Molecular Dynamics


Book Description

This report describes the work of the Committee on Proposal Evaluation for Allocation of Supercomputing Time for the Study of Molecular Dynamics, Seventh Round. The committee evaluated submissions received in response to a Request for Proposals (RFP) for biomolecular simulation time on Anton, a supercomputer specially designed and built by D.E. Shaw Research (DESRES). Over the past five years, DESRES has made an Anton system housed at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) available to the non-commercial research community, based on the advice of previous National Research Council committees. As in prior rounds, the goal of the seventh RFP for simulation time on Anton is to continue to facilitate breakthrough research in the study of biomolecular systems by providing a massively parallel system specially designed for molecular dynamics simulations. The program seeks to continue to support research that addresses important and high impact questions demonstrating a clear need for Anton's special capabilities. Report of the Committee on Proposal Evaluation for Allocation of Supercomputing Time for the Study of Molecular Dynamics, Seventh Round is the report of the committee's evaluation of proposals based on scientific merit, justification for requested time allocation, and investigator qualifications and past accomplishments. This report identifies the proposals that best met the selection criteria.




Computational Methods to Study the Structure and Dynamics of Biomolecules and Biomolecular Processes


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive overview of modern computer-based techniques for analyzing the structure, properties and dynamics of biomolecules and biomolecular processes. It is organized in four main parts; the first one deals with methodology of molecular simulations; the second one with applications of molecular simulations; the third one introduces bioinformatics methods and the use of experimental information in molecular simulations; the last part reports on selected applications of molecular quantum mechanics. This second edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to include the latest progresses made in the respective field of research.







Molecular Modeling and Simulation


Book Description

Very broad overview of the field intended for an interdisciplinary audience; Lively discussion of current challenges written in a colloquial style; Author is a rising star in this discipline; Suitably accessible for beginners and suitably rigorous for experts; Features extensive four-color illustrations; Appendices featuring homework assignments and reading lists complement the material in the main text




Integrative Structural Biology with Hybrid Methods


Book Description

This book presents a new emerging concept of "Integrative Structural Biology". It covers current trends of the molecular and cellular structural biology, providing new methods to observe, validate, and keep the structural models of the large cellular machines with recent scientific results. Structures of very large macromolecular machines in cells are being determined by combining observations from complementary experimental methods. Thus, this volume presents the each methods such as X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, 3DEM, small-angle scattering (SAS), FRET, crosslinking, and enables the readers to understand the hybrid methods. This book discusses how those integrative models should be represented, validated and archived. A unique highlight of this book is discussion of the data validation and archive, which are big problems in this filed along with the progress of this field. The researchers in biology will be interested in this book as a guide book for learning the current structure biology, but also those in structure biology may use this book as a comprehensive reference to cover broad topics.




Free Energy Calculations


Book Description

Free energy constitutes the most important thermodynamic quantity to understand how chemical species recognize each other, associate or react. Examples of problems in which knowledge of the underlying free energy behaviour is required, include conformational equilibria and molecular association, partitioning between immiscible liquids, receptor-drug interaction, protein-protein and protein-DNA association, and protein stability. This volume sets out to present a coherent and comprehensive account of the concepts that underlie different approaches devised for the determination of free energies. The reader will gain the necessary insight into the theoretical and computational foundations of the subject and will be presented with relevant applications from molecular-level modelling and simulations of chemical and biological systems. Both formally accurate and approximate methods are covered using both classical and quantum mechanical descriptions. A central theme of the book is that the wide variety of free energy calculation techniques available today can be understood as different implementations of a few basic principles. The book is aimed at a broad readership of graduate students and researchers having a background in chemistry, physics, engineering and physical biology.




Handbook of Computational Chemistry


Book Description

This handbook is a guide to current methods of computational chemistry, explaining their limitations and advantages and providing examples of their applications. The first part outlines methods, the balance of volumes present numerous important applications.




Inspired by Biology


Book Description

Scientists have long desired to create synthetic systems that function with the precision and efficiency of biological systems. Using new techniques, researchers are now uncovering principles that could allow the creation of synthetic materials that can perform tasks as precise as biological systems. To assess the current work and future promise of the biology-materials science intersection, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation asked the NRC to identify the most compelling questions and opportunities at this interface, suggest strategies to address them, and consider connections with national priorities such as healthcare and economic growth. This book presents a discussion of principles governing biomaterial design, a description of advanced materials for selected functions such as energy and national security, an assessment of biomolecular materials research tools, and an examination of infrastructure and resources for bridging biological and materials science.




Computational Pharmaceutics


Book Description

Molecular modeling techniques have been widely used in drug discovery fields for rational drug design and compound screening. Now these techniques are used to model or mimic the behavior of molecules, and help us study formulation at the molecular level. Computational pharmaceutics enables us to understand the mechanism of drug delivery, and to develop new drug delivery systems. The book discusses the modeling of different drug delivery systems, including cyclodextrins, solid dispersions, polymorphism prediction, dendrimer-based delivery systems, surfactant-based micelle, polymeric drug delivery systems, liposome, protein/peptide formulations, non-viral gene delivery systems, drug-protein binding, silica nanoparticles, carbon nanotube-based drug delivery systems, diamond nanoparticles and layered double hydroxides (LDHs) drug delivery systems. Although there are a number of existing books about rational drug design with molecular modeling techniques, these techniques still look mysterious and daunting for pharmaceutical scientists. This book fills the gap between pharmaceutics and molecular modeling, and presents a systematic and overall introduction to computational pharmaceutics. It covers all introductory, advanced and specialist levels. It provides a totally different perspective to pharmaceutical scientists, and will greatly facilitate the development of pharmaceutics. It also helps computational chemists to look for the important questions in the drug delivery field. This book is included in the Advances in Pharmaceutical Technology book series.