Collagen: Rediscovering the Most Abundant Protein of Our Body with HPC
Event Details:
- Date: Tuesday, 4 May 2021
- Time: Starts: 16:00
- Venue: Live streaming of the discussion will be available on Zoom (Password: VsSCz1).
- Speaker: Prof. Frauke Gräter, Head and Scientific Director, “Molecular Biomechanics” Research Group, The Heidelberg Institute of Theoretical Studies (HITS); Professor, Heidelberg University
CaSToRC, the HPC National Competence Centre,
invites you to the EuroCC and SimEA Online Seminar Series
Abstract
Materials - be it a shoe sole or an Achilles tendon - respond to mechanical stress involving length scales all the way down to atoms and electrons, rendering computational materials science a prime application area of HPC.
Prof. Gräter will show how large scale simulations of collagen have fundamentally changed our understanding of this protein, the most abundant building block of our body and its major load-bearing material. We find tension in this biomaterial, as it occurs in our Achilles tendon or muscle, to result in molecular rupture events with vast consequences to the tissue. She will share her recent efforts towards an efficient, scalable and transferable reactive Molecular Dynamics scheme by a combination with kinetic Monte Carlo simulations to cover these and related processes at the relevant time and length scales and yet at atomistic details. The findings, making ample use of HPC infrastructure and in combination with our experimental studies, open new routes towards addressing mechanical stress-induced diseases such as pain or inflammation
About the Speaker
Prof. Frauke Gräter
Frauke Gräter is head of the research group “Molecular Biomechanics” at the Heidelberg Institute of Theoretical Studies (HITS) and Professor at Heidelberg University. She also currently acts as Scientific Director of HITS. She investigates how proteins have been designed to specifically respond to mechanical forces in the cellular environment or as a biomaterial, e.g. in the process of blood coagulation or in collagen fibers. To this end, her group uses and further develops various multi-scale molecular simulation techniques.
She is a recipient of the PRACE Ada Lovelace Award for High Performance Computing 2017 and has been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant (RADICOL, 2021-2026). As of 2021, she is an Editorial Board Member of Biophysical Journal.
Download the Summer 2021 Online EuroCC & SimEA Seminar Series Programme here.
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Additional Info
- Date: Tuesday, 4 May 2021
- Time: Starts: 16:00
- Speaker: Prof. Frauke Gräter, Head and Scientific Director, “Molecular Biomechanics” Research Group, The Heidelberg Institute of Theoretical Studies (HITS); Professor, Heidelberg University
