NEWS
Practical Parallel Computing Sandia National Laboratories, which claims to have the largest massively parallel computing operation in the United States, reports that it is successfully shifting from serial to parallel processing. Already some 20 key codes that account for 95% of the computing time now taken up on Sandia's supercomputers have been or are being converted for use on the laboratory's massively parallel computers. Massively parallel computers mimic, to some degree, the operation of the brain by running a computational process as several pieces simultaneously rather than one step at a time. Among the problems being tackled by Sandia's massively parallel computers are several of interest to chemists. The simulations include global climate change, fast molecular dynamics of systems on the order of 100 atoms, electron trajectories through materials as a technique for deconvoluting electron microscopy data, Monte Carlo calculations of molecular collisions and chemistry occurring in the upper atmosphere around a space vehicle, underground migration of liquids in three dimensions and with respect to elapsed time, and appraisals of molecules for their suitability as catalysts. According to William Camp, manager of Sandia's Mathematics and Computational Science Department, "These are real-life engineering and scientific problems, and we're solving them anywhere between 10 and 100 times faster than we were with conventional supercomputers." The parallel processing is currently run on two NCUBE massively parallel "hypercube" supercomputers with 1024 microprocessors and a 16,384 processor Connection Machine.
Nominations for Dal Nogare Award The Chromatography Forum of the Delaware Valley is requesting nominations for the 1992 Stephen Dal Nogare Award for excellence in and significant contributions to the field of chromatography. All nominations should consist of one or more letters of nomination and a biographical sketch describing the nominee's experience and contributions to the field. Nominations from previous years can be renewed and appended with an updated letter. Nominations should be sent to Mary Ellen McNally, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Agricultural Products Department, Experimental Station, Wilmington, DE 19880-0402. Deadline is March 31.
Keene Dimick Award Nominations Nominations are requested for the 1992 Keene Dimick Award, which is presented to an individual who has made noteworthy accomplishments in the areas of GC and SFC. The $5,000 award, administered by the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh (SACP), is pre-
sented annually at the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy. The selection is based on overall accomplishments in the field, including but not limited to scientific publications, contributions to science, and beneficial influences on other scientists. A nomination letter and a complete résumé should be sent to Ann Cibulas, Keene Dimick Award Committee, SACP, 300 Penn Center Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15235. Deadline is March 15.
A0AC Nominations The Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) again invites nominations for two of its annual awards. The $2,500 Harvey W. Wiley Award is given to an outstanding scientist or research team for contributions to analytical methodology in areas of interest to AOAC. The award was established in 1956 to honor Wiley, a founder of AOAC and the "father" of the Pure Food and Drug Act. Nominations received before December 1 will be considered for the award during the next four years. The AOAC Scholarship Award provides $1,000 to support an undergraduate student's fourth year of study in a scientific area of interest to AOAC. Additional qualifications are a B average or better and evidence of financial need. Students in medical and premedical programs are not eligible. Nominating forms are available from AOAC, 2200 Wilson Blvd., Suite 400, Arlington, VA 22201-3301 (703-522-3032). Deadline is May 1.
Decoy Viruses University of California at Los Angeles researchers have demonstrated that proteins can bind to a nanometersized crystalline ceramic core, producing a decoy virus that may serve as a vaccine. According to the principal investigators, Nir Kossovsky and Rointan Bunshah, human serum transferrin adheres to the core without being denatured. Furthermore, they have demonstrated that a virus with the replicating DNA material removed will bind to the core, retaining the immunological recognition sites of the viral proteins. The ceramic core is composed of several ceramic particles, forming a 120-nm mass—about the size of a red blood cell. "We have a sterile form of a virus which, if properly coated onto the ceramic core, resembles a virus and therefore may successfully induce a neutralizing antibody formation," explains Kossovsky. Currently, Kossovsky is testing the procedure with the Epstein—Barr virus for which no vaccine exists. The procedure may also restore potency for drugs that show activity in vitro but not in vivo. "When you take the drug out of the test tube and place it in a biological environment, it assumes a new shape and, therefore, a new function. By trying to restore that original shape, using this new technology, we might be able to restore its demonstrated in vitro properties," says Kossovsky. ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 63, NO. 5, MARCH 1, 1991 • 273 A
