Carlos Simmerling Wins Humanitarian

Carlos Simmerling, an associate professor in the department of chemistry and director of computational biology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, is a winner of the Itanium Solutions Alliance Innovation Contest, sponsored by Itanium Solutions Alliance. The prize consists of $50,000 cash or an equivalent donation to a charity.

Simmerling received the award in the Humanitarian Impact Innovation category. The award recognizes profound impact on humanity through research. Simmerling has developed simulations to understand the molecular basis of diseases such as HIV. His team recently conducted the most extensive computer simulations ever done on HIV protease, revealing for the first time how the enzyme transiently opens as it operates, allowing drugs to gain access to the interior of the virus and inactivate it.

Simmerling is also using simulations that support groundbreaking research in the treatment of tuberculosis and cancer. "This is a tremendous honor, one that recognizes what human effort and technological advances can achieve when brought to bear on a problem that had previously proved insurmountable," Simmerling said.