LLNL, DOD, NNSA dedicate Rapid Response Laboratory and supercomputing system to accelerate biodefense

LLNL recently welcomed officials from the Department of Defense (DOD) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to dedicate a new supercomputing system and Rapid Response Laboratory (RRL). DOD is working with NNSA to significantly increase the computing capability available to the national biodefense programs. The collaboration has enabled expanding systems of the same architecture as LLNL’s upcoming exascale supercomputer, El Capitan, featuring AMD’s cutting-edge MI300A processors. These systems will provide unique capabilities for large-scale simulation and AI-based modeling for a variety of biodefense activities, including biosurveillance, threat characterization, advanced materials development and accelerated medical countermeasures. DOD and NNSA intend to allow the U.S. government interagency, international allies and partners and academia and industry to access the supercomputing capability.

The RRL will leverage the recently dedicated supercomputing rack to enable researchers to rapidly design, test and evaluate computationally derived protein designs, in hopes of accelerating the discovery and development of medical countermeasures for emerging or unknown biological threats. A short walk away from the computing facility, the RRL complements the DOD Chemical and Biological Defense Program’s (CBDP) Generative Unconstrained Intelligent Drug Engineering (GUIDE) program. GUIDE accelerates medical countermeasure design by leveraging machine learning-backed antibody design, experimental data, structural biology, bioinformatic modeling and molecular simulations. The program includes dozens of LLNL researchers and collaborators from government and academia, including Los Alamos and Sandia. Read more at LLNL News.