March 25, 2020 – by CSCS
Scientists around the world are working hard to find ways and solutions for stemming the spread of the rampant COVID-19 pandemic and, in the best case scenario, developing a vaccine against the virus before the end of this year. Understanding of the novel coronavirus, for example by sequencing its genome, studying its virulence, survival time, its "preferences" for transmission and predicting its distribution is crucial to overcome the crisis. Many questions have not yet been (clearly) clarified.
Computer simulations are essential in almost all areas of research on COVID-19, from predictions on the economic impact, the spread of the virus to vaccine development. For supporting research CSCS will provide compute infrastructure to scientists committed to having an impact on understanding COVID-19 and mitigating the pandemic. "Our mission is to enable cutting-edge research with our infrastructure and know-how. We take this particularly seriously in times like these and we therefore want to provide uncomplicated and rapid access to our flagship supercomputer 'Piz Daint' for research on COVID-19," says Michele De Lorenzi, Deputy Director of CSCS. CSCS therefore participates in the SNF special call for research on Coronavirus as well as in PRACE (Partnerschip for Advanced Computing in Europe), at PRACE Fast Track Call for Proposals. Interested parties should apply through the announced call. "Do not hesitate to contact CSCS for any further questions," says Maria Grazia Giuffreda, head of User Support and Associate Director at CSCS. CSCS, with its staff and "Piz Daint", is ready to support a wide range of innovative and hopefully groundbreaking projects for research into COVID-19. We are looking forward to your proposals!
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