US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson came to
our facility for a brief visit on October 20, 2001 and we gave him a
couple of demos:
- How The Genome Controls Itself (Presenter: Alexander Balaeff)
- Putting Your Hands On A Protein (Presenters: Paul Grayson,
Emad Tajkhorshid)
The presentations showed how cutting edge science and computational
technologies lead to great biomedical benefits. Using VMD - our molecular visualization
program, and NAMD - our molecular modeling
program running on parallel computers, we showcased our
research on multi-scale modeling of DNA-protein complexes (lac
repressor), as well as on
membrane channels (aquaporins).
We demonstrated how researchers, combining NAMD and VMD via a virtual reality device and running interactive molecular dynamics, manipulate the systems they study and
interact with them in real time. Such investigations of biological
systems are possible due to the availability of powerful computers
and our efficient software to exploit them.
Despite his tight schedule, Secretary Thompson took the opportunity
to operate the virtual reality device and to interact with the biological
system on the screen.
As always, this fine presentation reflected the team effort of all
Resource members. The photographs were taken by Jim.
|
