University Communication, April 28, 2020
Holland Computing Center contributing to COVID-19 research
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Holland Computing Center is doing its part to offer relief in the form of computational resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The center is a member of the Open Science Grid, a network of organizations that provides computing services for many types of science research. The Open Science Grid has recently teamed up with institutions like Brookhaven National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to help fight COVID-19 by offering their computational power to researchers studying how to combat the virus.
Holland Computing Center’s supercomputers are currently being used for several virus-related research projects, including one at Stanford University studying the RNA tertiary structure prediction for COVID-19 UTRs.
The center’s computing resources are also being leveraged for Folding at Home, a project simulating how viral proteins fold to help other scientists design better therapeutics. Derek Weitzel, assistant professor of computer science research, developed and is managing the submissions for Folding at Home across 40,000 processors on the Open Science Grid.
“I am proud to contribute to the Folding at Home COVID-19 effort to develop treatments for this pandemic,” said Weitzel. “The Holland Computing Center personnel have the unique expertise to scale COVID-19 research across the Open Science Grid. HCC’s partnership with the Open Science Grid not only allows us to assist in this timely research, but it also provides Nebraska researchers the opportunity to use national cyberinfrastructure to accelerate their science.”
The Holland Computing Center is proud to offer extended resources, including through its partnership with national organizations, to researchers engaged in COVID-19 studies. Those wishing to learn more can contact the center’s team at hcc-support@unl.edu.
