Supercomputer offers hope for improved ‘cold’ treatments

by Gary Finnegan – World Health Matters (Australia) –

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Melbourne researchers are using Australia’s fasted supercomputer to simulate the motion of the complete human rhinovirus in 3D.

The rhinovirus is the most frequent cause of the common cold but effective treatments can be elusive. Scientists say the insights gained from deepening their understanding of the virus could pave the way for the development of new medicines.

Rhinovirus infection is linked to about 70% of all asthma exacerbations with more than 50% of these patients requiring hospitalisation. Furthermore, over 35% of patients with acute chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are hospitalised each year due to respiratory viruses including rhinovirus.

New antiviral medicines to treat rhinovirus infections could reduce hospitalisation, according to experts, and a drug candidate is being tested as part of the ‘supercomputer’ project. A team of researchers led by Prof Michael Parker from St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research (SVI) and the University of Melbourne said the aim is to learn more about how the drug interacts with the virus.

“Our recently published work shows that the drug binds to the shell that surrounds the virus, called the capsid. But that work doesn’t explain in precise detail how the drug and other similar acting compounds work,” Prof Parker said.

The team is working on the newly installed IBM Blue Gene/Q at the University of Melbourne with computational biologists from IBM and the Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative (VLSCI).  In production from 1 July 2012, the IBM Blue Gene/Q is the most powerful supercomputer dedicated to life sciences research in the Southern Hemisphere and currently ranked the fastest in Australia.

Professor Parker said that previously it was only possible to run smaller simulations on parts of the virus.

“Supercomputer technology enables us to delve deeper in the mechanisms at play inside a human cell, particularly how drugs work at a molecular level. This work offers exciting opportunities for speeding up the discovery and development of new antiviral treatments and hopefully save many lives around the world,” he said.