More proof that computers have taken over the world: a large portion of chemistry research has moved out of the lab and into the virtual world of computer simulations.
That shift is the raison d’etre for Concordia’s new Centre for Research in Molecular Modelling, which was jointly funded, to the tune of $240,000, by Concordia, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and the Ministry of Education of Quebec. The Centre provides impressive computer power for modelling of chemical reactions at the molecular level, a powerful tool which eliminates countless hours of trial and error.
“We’ve never had access to this kind of computing power before,” said Centre co-founder and Chemistry Professor Gilles Peslherbe, as he prepared for an inaugural symposium that launched the Centre. “We’ve taken a giant leap forward.”
“We now have a truly state-of-the-art facility,” said Professor John Capobianco, who is developing a solid-state laser at the Centre that may be used for surgery. “The computer simulations we can conduct give us a predictive ability in our research. They help point out what directions we should be taking in the lab by giving us a better idea of what to expect when we test certain materials.”
The infrastructure of the Centre is composed of powerful computers, including workstations that can be linked to simulate the number-crunching ability of a supercomputer. But the philosophy of the centre is focused on the increasingly co-operative nature of research.
“The philosophy of the Centre is to bring academics together, and to foster collaborations between researchers in computational chemistry and biochemistry, both within Concordia and with people from other institutions as well,” Peslherbe said.