Bede, a new supercomputer commissioned by N8 Research Partnership (N8), is another great example of how HPC is one of the most powerful tools we have in the fight and future protection against disease.
Researchers are utilising its compute capacity to better understand COVID-19 and how to recover from the pandemic. It will also support research projects of the SARS-CoV-2 UK strain, AI, energy storage and supply and therapeutic drug design.
Having previously supported the Folding@Home project, which you can read about here, the new supercomputer based at Durham University, will be used in modelling the spread of COVID-19 around the UK and fed into SAGE reports as well as local authorities using data to support important disease control decisions on a national scale.
OCF was tasked with designing, integrating and configuring the new HPC system by N8 and its compute power enables researchers to accelerate projects and tackle larger problems and higher resolution imagery than has previously been possible in the North of England.
Bede links the highest capability national and international supercomputers with local computers at individual research institutions.
N8 is the largest research pooling partnership in the UK and is a strategic collaboration between the universities of Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, and York.
If you’d like to hear more about our work with N8 or find out how HPC can help with your research or AI projects, please get in touch.