World Model · podcast knowledge graph

World’s Largest Supercomputer v. Biology’s Toughest Problems

2020-06-14 · 33 min · episode 563 · 15 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

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    Feed author/publisher: Andreessen Horowitz
  • → works at Washington University company
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    professor at Washington University
  • → works at Folding company
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    director of Folding
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  • → discusses Entrepreneurship website
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  • → hosted by a16z company
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    Feed author/publisher: a16z

Entities found in this episode

companys 9

  • mentioned Washington University company
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    professor at Washington University
  • mentioned Folding company
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    evidence rules-v4
    director of Folding
  • mentioned Business company
    0.50 · ×2
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Business
  • mentioned Technology company
    0.50 · ×2
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Technology
  • works at Washington University company
    0.50 · ×2
    evidence rules-v4
    professor at Washington University
  • works at Folding company
    0.50 · ×2
    evidence rules-v4
    director of Folding
  • discusses Business company
    0.40 · ×2
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Business
  • discusses Technology company
    0.40 · ×2
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Technology
  • hosted by a16z company
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    evidence rules-v4
    Feed author/publisher: a16z

persons 2

  • mentioned Andreessen Horowitz person
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    evidence rules-v4
    Feed author/publisher: Andreessen Horowitz
  • hosted by Andreessen Horowitz person
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    evidence rules-v4
    Feed author/publisher: Andreessen Horowitz

websites 2

  • mentioned Entrepreneurship website
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    Feed category: Entrepreneurship
  • discusses Entrepreneurship website
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    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Entrepreneurship

concepts 2

  • mentioned Science concept
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    Feed category: Science
  • discusses Science concept
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    Feed category: Science
Episode description as stored
Proteins are molecular machines that must first assemble themselves to function. But how does a protein, which is produced as a linear string of amino acids, assume the complex three-dimensional structure needed to carry out its job?  That's where Folding at Home comes in. Folding at Home is a sophisticated computer program that simulates the way atoms push and pull on each other, applied to the problem of protein dynamics, aka "folding". These simulations help researchers understand protein function and to design drugs and antibodies to target them. Folding at Home is currently studying key proteins from the virus that causes COVID-19 to help therapeutic development.  Given the extreme complexity of these simulations, they require an astronomical amount of compute power. Folding at Hold solves this problem with a distributed computing framework: it breaks up the calculations in the smaller pieces that can be run on independent computers. Users of Folding at Home - millions of them today - donate the spare compute power on their PCs to help run these simulations. This aggregate compute power represents the largest super computer in the world: currently 2.4 exaFLOPS! Folding at Home was launched 20 years ago this summer in the lab of Vijay Pande at Stanford. In this episode, Vijay (now a general partner at a16z) is joined by his former student and current director of Folding at Home, Greg Bowman, an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and Lauren Richardson. We discuss the origins of the Folding at Home project along with its connection to SETI@Home and Napster ; also the scientific and technical advances needed to solve the complex protein folding and distributed computing problems; and importantly what does understanding protein dynamics actually achieve?  Stay Updated: Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube Find a16z on X Find a16z on LinkedIn Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.