Russian Scientists Use Supercomputer to Tackle COVID-19

The Joint Supercomputer Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (JSCC RAS) provides priority access to computing resources for research teams studying methods to fight the COVID-19 coronavirus infection. Russian scientists as a part of the multi-national research team use recently upgraded MVS-10P OP cluster system based on high-performance 2nd-generation Intel Xeon Scalable server processors. The international project aims to develop medicine for diagnostics and therapy against the coronavirus contagious disease.

To help solve this problem, an international team of scientists—from Russia, Finland, Italy, China, Japan and Canada—was formed. The geographically distributed team includes virologists, biologists, chemists, mathematicians and physical scientists. 

The international team consists of: 

• Laboratory for Digital Controlled Drugs and Theranostics and Laboratory of Physics of Magnetic Phenomena, Kirensky Institute of Physics at the Federal Science Center, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (KSC RAS, Krasnoyarsk, Russia) 
• Laboratory For Biomolecular and Medical Technology, V.F. Voyno-Yasenetsky Krasnoyarsk State Medical University (KrasSMU, Krasnoyarsk, Russia)—project coordinator
• Laboratory of Chemical Cybernetics, Department of Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU, Moscow, Russia)
• Laboratory for Computer Simulation of Biomolecular Systems and Nanomaterials at N. M. Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (IBCP RAS, Moscow, Russia) 
• Organic Synthesis Laboratory, Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medical Science, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ICBFM SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia) 
• Nanoscience Center and Department of Chemistry, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä (Finland) 
• Institute of Endocrinology and Experimental Oncology, CNR, Naples (Italy) 
• The Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory (MBL), Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan (China) 
• Institute of Molecular Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Medicine, Shanghai (China) 
• Department of Chemical Biology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian (China) 
• Research Center for Computational Design of Advanced Functional Materials (CD-FMat), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba (Japan)
• Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa (Canada). 

Computer Design of Medicine Against COVID-19 

“We aim to use molecular simulation to create a computer model of a medical drug with selective interaction with receptor-binding domain of Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus strain. The most promising specific binding agents to be used for diagnostics (identification of virus particles in saliva) and development of virus treatment drugs preventing ingress of infection. The results of theoretical calculations and computer simulation will be experimentally tested on proteins, viruses and cells,” says Anna Kichkailo, head of Laboratory For Digital Controlled Drugs and Theranostics at the Krasnoyarsk Federal Science Center of RAS, Head of the Laboratory for Biomolecular and Medical Technology of the V.F. Voyno-Yasenetsky Krasnoyarsk State Medical University.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.