MEJIJE@VMS2.UNI-C.DK (Jacob Engelbrecht) (01/12/90)
Has anyone out there heard about a special purpose computer for working
with genes being developed by the California high tech firm Applied
Biosystems? If someone knows of this project I would be gratefull to
receive some information about it.
Jacob Engelbrecht
mejije@vms2.uni-c.dk
Institute of Dairy Science
Royal Veterinary and agricultural University
Buelowsvej 13
DK-1870 Frederiksberg C
DENMARKdavison@UHNIX2.UH.EDU (Dan Davison) (01/13/90)
> Has anyone out there heard about a special purpose computer for working > with genes being developed by the California high tech firm Applied > Biosystems? If someone knows of this project I would be gratefull to > receive some information about it. There are two things going on. The first is some specialized software that runs on the TRW Fast Data Finder, essentially a fast string-matching massively parallel computer. Last I knew the hw was $25,000 and the sw another $25,000 (DOE pricing). The second is a version of the FDF for biological pattern searching. This chip is NOT yet available; Lee Hood said in in seminar here about 6 weeks ago that the masks are cut yet. I had heard otherwise this past summer, but I guess Hood should know. The chip has some catchy name like BSIF, and you can bet that it will be very expensive if it's from ABI. There are at least two other groups working on similar chips, but ABI will probably have theirs on the market the earliest. dan -- dr. dan davison/dept. of biochemical and biophysical sciences/univ. of Houston/4800 Calhoun/Houston,TX 77054-5500/davison@uh.edu/DAVISON@UHOU "Mars is essentially in the same orbit...somewhat the same distance from the sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe" -- Vice President Dan Quayle, Head of the National Space Council, when questioned on CNN about why America should send a mission to Mars. [Houston Post, Sun. Nov. 19, pg. C-1]. Disclaimer: As always, I speak only for myself, and, usually, only to myself.
wrp@krebs.acc.Virginia.EDU (Bill Pearson) (01/13/90)
>Has anyone out there heard about a special purpose computer for working >with genes being developed by the California high tech firm Applied >Biosystems? If someone knows of this project I would be gratefull to >receive some information about it. Applied Biosystems is apparently working on using a high speed pattern matching chip developed for the military (?) or National Security Agency (?) for scanning large databases of text. Although this chip has gotten a good deal of publicity, it is not clear that it is either faster or better than current high-speed algorithms. Bill Pearson