We released a video of the “Multi-scale, Multi-physics Heart Simulator UT-Heart”

We created a video describing the “Multi-scale, Multi-physics Heart Simulator UT-Heart” which runs on the K computer and reproduces the actual movements of the heart. With many varied camera techniques as well as music and sound effects, the video depicts the movements of the heart in an easy-to-understand manner.

The UT-Heart aims to reproduce the heart of a person on a computer, which moves physically and physiologically identically with the real heart, for practical application in the medical setting. The K computer calculates the flows of blood, blood pressure and electrocardiogram, enabling physicians to precisely investigate remedies, correctly predict conditions after treatment, virtually practice heart operations, and thus decide the optimum surgical method.

The video shows heart beats, heart muscle contractions and the movements of myosin molecules in sarcomere in an easy-to-understand manner not only for professionals but also for ordinary people. The video has been released onthe Web page, Strategic Programs for Innovative Research Field 1 “Supercomputational Life Science (SCLS).” Please visit the page.

Dates of release : July 11, 2014 (Japanese version), October 20, 2014 (English version)

SCLS issued a brochure on its research

SCLS is working on four themes: “Simulations of biomolecules under cellular environments,” “Simulation applicable to drug design,” “Hierarchical integrated simulation for predictive medicine,” and “Large-scale analysis of life data.” The brochure introduces researchers and their research, trying to convey the appeal of computational life science.

Bio Japan 2014 World Business Forum

Bio Japan 2014 World Business Forum was held on October 15 (Wednesday) to 17 (Friday), 2014, at Pacifico Yokoyama. SCLS exhibited panels at RIKEN’s booth also this year and showed results of simulations applicable to drug design and other activities.

RIKEN KOBE Campus Open Day (Kobe: RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science)

RIKEN KOBE Campus Open Day was held on Saturday October 25, 2014. At “Kagaku-no-Hiroba” open to the public, five research institutes that are using the K computer exhibited their research in various ways. At the exhibition hall, panels were exhibited describing the research. Visitors of all ages, from children to the elderly, enjoyed making paper crafts shown in the illustration, which helped them understand the hierarchical system of our body.

Besides the exhibitions at “Kagaku-no-Hiroba,” there were tours to see the K computer and brief lectures describing the research. About 2,500 visited the institute on the day.

A short course on GHOST-MP (a parallel sequence similarity search tool) and a drill using the SCLS supercomputer system (compatible with the K computer) will be held.

Date and time : March 20 (Friday), 2015, 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Location : 8F, AIST Tokyo Waterfront Annex
Number of trainees invited : 10

GHOST-MP is a software that parallelizes the GHOSTX’s search algorithm, which is a rapid sequence similarity search tool, for a distributed memory system. A vast amount of short base or amino-acid sequences obtained by a next-generation sequencer, etc., can be searched for sequence similarity to those in an amino-acid sequence database in a short period of time. The software is useful for metagenome analysis, etc. The short course will explain the structure and methods of using GHOST-MP, and participants will practice metagenome data analysis by using GHOST-MP in the drill. For inquiries, please contact: scls-mado@riken.jp.