New center developing computational bioresearch tool

The HIV virion is the virus particle that spreads the deadly AIDS infection from cell to cell. "On the molecular scale it's a huge object that probably involves a billion total atoms. You would never get anywhere just by trying to study atom-by-atom how they all interact with each other," said Gregory Voth , the Haig P. Papazian Distinguished Service Professor in Chemistry at the University of Chicago. But Voth and his UChicago colleagues are working on a technique that might lead to a new, dramatically simpler way to predict molecular motion inside a cell. The team will pursue that goal with an initial $1.5 million Phase I grant from the National Science Foundation to launch the new Center for Multiscale Theory and Simulation. CMTS is UChicago's second Phase I NSF Center for Chemical Innovation, following the establishment of the Center for Energetic Non-Equilbrium Chemistry at Interfaces in 2009. NSF created the Centers for Chemical Innovation program in 2004 to support long-term basic chemical research problems that are likely to produce transformative results.