IBM’s supercomputer, Summit, ran thousands of simulations to analyze the drugs which can effectively prevent the novel coronavirus from infecting host cells. This is a major breakthrough in the world of healthcare technology where scientists all over the world are struggling to find a cure to one of the biggest pandemics of all time.
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory published in the journal ChemRixv that the supercomputer identified 77 such drug compounds. Summit ran the simulation over 8,000 drug compounds to identify the compound which can bind the spike of the virus. In virus infections, host cells are injected with a spike protein, which further spreads to other cells. The drugs identified by Summit could bind to the spike protein and limit its ability to spread further.
Summit, with the power of 200 petaflops i.e., the computing speed of 200 quadrillion calculations per second, was commissioned by the US Department of Energy in 2014 to solve the world’s problem. Six years later, Summit is indeed solving one of biggest problems the world has ever faced.
Please note that this is not a cure for the disease but the findings could help in future studies.
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