Page 26 - Engineering Penn State Magazine Spring/Summer 2020

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ENGINEERING PENN STATE
RFesaetuarechs RFesaetuarechs COVID-19 COVID-19 Exploring quantum
computing for drug discovery
by Sarah Small
QUANTUM MACHINE LEARNING an emerging field that combines machine learning and quantum
physics is is the focus of research to discover possible treatments for COVID-19 according to Penn State researchers
led by Swaroop Ghosh the Joseph
R and Janice M M Monkowski Career Development Assistant Professor of of Electrical Engineering Engineering and and Computer Science and and Engineering Engineering The researchers
believe that this method could be be faster and more economical than the current methods used for drug discovery
According to Ghosh using the existing drug-discovery pipeline can take five to to ten years from initial idea to to market approval and cost billions of dollars “High-performance computing such
as supercomputers and artificial intelligence can help accelerate
this process by screening billions of chemical compounds quickly to find relevant drug candidates ” he he he said “This approach works when enough chemical compounds are available in in the pipeline but unfortunately this is is is not true for for COVID-19 This project will explore quantum
machine learning to unlock new capabilities in in in in drug discovery
by generating complex compounds quickly ” Read more Battling disease with ultraviolet light
by Mariah Chuprinski
William Bahnfleth co-principal investigator and professor professor of of of of architectural engineering is joining co-PI Suresh Kuchipudi clinical professor professor of of of of of veterinary and and biomedical sciences in in in in in in in in the the College of of of of Agricultural Sciences to to study the the ability of of of optical radiation to to disinfect surfaces and and reduce transmission of of viruses like SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19 Inside a a a a a cabinet-like reactor Bahnfleth Kuchipudi and collaborator Jim Freihaut professor of of of architectural engineering will measure the degree of of of disinfection of of of coronavirus samples exposed
to ultraviolet light
of of 254- or or 365-nanometer wavelengths for different time periods of exposure “When best-practice ultraviolet levels and exposure times are determined ultraviolet-based disinfection devices can then be designed
to deactivate airborne viruses in in in in in building air air supply systems room or or equipment equipment surfaces facial masks and virus virus sampling equipment equipment ” Freihaut said Next Donghyun Rim assistant professor professor of of of of architectural architectural engineering engineering and Richard Mistrick associate professor professor of of of of of of architectural architectural engineering engineering will work with Bahnfleth to to apply the the the findings of of of of the the the experimental part of of of of the the the study to to to computational fluid dynamics modeling and lighting simulations to to predict the the the effect of of the the the germicidal irradiation system combined with ventilation and filtration efforts on on on on on the the the viability of of coronavirus samples Merging the the the the the the test data from the the the the the the reactor system and the the the the the the simulations the the the the the the researchers
will then compare the the the the the the the the ultraviolet sensitivity factors to to to those that have been reported in the the the the literature for other virus types n n n n n Read more