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Computational Chemistry expertise is part of a high performance computing capacity available for local businesses

Local businesses in engineering, pharmaceutical development, the creative and digital industries, aerospace and automotive, as well as other sectors, are now able to take advantage of facilities in high performance computing (HPC) that have been developed thanks to £3.5 million of EPSRC funding in a project known as Midplus.

These businesses are invited to work with the University to develop their own high performance computing, whether this is exploring a move to using HPC for the first time, or complementing their existing capacity for specific projects, new requirements, or additional needs. The facility can support requirements such as data processing, computer simulations, and image rendering without the need for huge set-up costs.

It is the first time that local businesses have been offered HPC facilities in this way and, unlike standard commercially available HPC facilities, Midplus allows local businesses to agree a bespoke package which would include:

• Computing power to meet their specific needs, not “over sold”
• The ability to adapt this easily as requirement change
• Support such as installation of software
• Consultancy from academic specialists with expertise in particular sectors

The University of Nottingham is working with the University of Warwick, University of Birmingham, and Queen Mary, University of London to extend the computing power available to the universities and to local businesses, including:

• A 6,000 core cluster
• A high-throughput 2,900 core cluster
• A large data store and archive, mirrored between two sites

If your business could benefit from some additional PHC capacity for:

• Testing the viability of using HPC
• Developmental projects
• Needs for increased processing power
• Or any other requirement you have identified

Please contact Eleanor Turpin to arrange an initial meeting to identify whether Midplus can help.

Eleanor is also keen to hear from anyone within the University already working with local businesses on projects where this additional capability would be useful.

More about Midplus

Chemistry Innovation Laboratory Launch

The launch event for the Chemistry Innovation Laboratory (CIL) project took place on the evening of Thursday 3rd March at BioCity Nottingham. A summary of the project and its aims, describing how the grant, part funded by the European Union (ERDF), will enable local small and medium chemistry using businesses to interact more easily and productively with the University, was presented by Prof Steve Howdle and Dr Trevor Farren. Andrew Parker, a representative from Molecular Profiles, a local SME and regular collaborator with the University, also gave a presentation on their positive experiences of working together with the School of Chemistry. The presentations were followed by networking and canapés. The event was attended by 33 delegates from various local companies and overall was a great success.

For more information on how the CIL project could help your business and contact details, please visit www.nottingham.ac.uk/CIL.

CellAura to develop reagents for Tag-lite™ GPCR technology platform for Cisbio Bioassays

CellAura, a spin out company from the University of Nottingham, announced a development partnership with Cisbio Bioassays. CellAura, the leading producer of fluorescence reagents for drug discovery and life sciences research, will provide pharmacologically validated reagents to Cisbio Bioassays that will be applied to Cisbio Bioassays’ Tag-lite™ range of non-radioactive assays for cellular studies.

Critical Pharmaceuticals Secures £1.5M from Wellcome Trust to Develop hGH Nasal Spray

Critical Pharmaceuticals, a spin-out company from Nottingham University School of Chemistry, has secured a £1.5m translation award from the Wellcome Trust to develop a nasal spray of Human Growth Hormone (hGH) using its proprietary CriticalSorb™ technology as an alternative to injection.

BPU brokers licence deal for novel biological tagging system

School of Chemistry and Avidity LLC of Aurora, Colorado, USA have recently completed a licence deal to work together to commercialise a novel biological tagging tool arising from research carried out by Prof. Neil Thomas and his team.

Chemistry Spin-Out Wins Prize for Innovation

Promethean Particles, a spin-out from the School of Chemistry who specialise in nanoparticle synthesis based upon the novel research of Dr. Ed Lester, has been awarded the Lord Stafford award for Innovation Achieved 2009.

The Periodic Table of Videos at Catalyst

An exhibit featuring the Periodic Table of Videos has recently been launched at the Catalyst Museum in Widnes. The exhibit was kindly sponsored by the chemical and pharmaceutical group Solvay.