Subject: SpaceCrunch results are on-line

From: [email-masked] (Malcolm Cline)
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 21:06:12 GMT

Search Results from world's largest database search are coming on line this
week!  Queries were searched against over 150 billion compounds with typical
hit rates of over a million per query.  There are also examples of searches
against a smaller database of "only" 1 billion compounds.

During the next week (12/2 - 12/6) the results of the selected queries will be
available for interactive examination.  A new set of results is being added
each day.  Anyone with an internet browser can take a look, although Java
is needed for the combinatorial chemistry hitlist viewer.  Many of the tools
and applets used to view SpaceCrunch (the Hitlist Manager, the Query Sketcher,
sln2gif) are available through Tripos' Discovery.Net Club (URL
http://www.tripos.com/discovery.net/top.html).  You can access SpaceCrunch
through the URLs http://spacecrunch.sgi.ch or http://www.tripos.com/spacecrunch.

SpaceCrunch, a joint project by Silicon Graphics, Inc. and Tripos, Inc., 
demonstrates how the union of high-performance scaleable supercomputing
and leading edge database technology can fundamentally change the drug
discovery process.  The SpaceCrunch project consists of a creating a
structural  database containing over 100 billion compounds, and provides
capabilities to search and manipulate the database at rates above 100
million compounds per hour per CPU.

The technology for building and searching the database comes from Tripos' 
ChemSpace, a patented methodology for the creation and management of chemical 
databases, while the power to access the database is provided by the scalable 
computing power of Silicon Graphics computer systems.  The SpaceCrunch project
was run on a POWERCHALLENGE at the Silicon Graphics Supercomputing Technology
Center in Cortaillod, Switzerland.

Combinatorial Chemistry and High Throughput Screening are new disciplines
in which large chemical compound libraries are designed, created and tested
for desired activity.  The one-by-one screening method used currently is being
replaced by these new technologies.  The design and evalutation process of
library building has been performed up until now on a small scale. Now,
ChemSpace and Silicon Graphics Technology brings innovation to this process
by enabling the creation and searching of vast libraries containing billions
of chemical compounds stemming from specific reactions and reagents.

ChemSpace is unique in enabling both the construction of massive medicinal
databases and the ability to search them for specified similarity or chemical
substures.  The ChemSpace technology is scalable across the entire Silicon
Graphics line of products, from the entry-level Indy desktop workstation to
the top-of-the-line POWER CHALLENGEarray as well as on the recently announced
product line extending from the O2 desktop solution, through ORIGIN200 and up
to the ORIGIN2000 scalable solutions.

Visit the web sites to learn more about ChemSpace and Silicon Graphics
technology and to submit a query to be one of those possibly selected to run
against the SpaceCrunch database.

Contact Mark Schwartz of Tripos (314-647-1099, [email-masked]) or
Heidi Taylor of Silicon Graphics (+44 1734 257500, [email-masked])
for additional information.

mac
[email-masked]
Malcolm A. Cline
Senior Marketing Scientist
WebMaster
Tripos, Inc.