EXSCALATE4CoV project

The EXSCALATE4CoV (E4C) project aims to exploit the most powerful computing resources currently based in Europe to empower smart in-silico drug design. At the core of the project is Exscalate (EXaSCalesmArtpLatform Against paThogEns), at present the most powerful (and cost-efficient) intelligent supercomputing platform in the world, developed by Dompé. Exscalate (exscalate.eu) leverages a "chemical library" of 500 billion molecules, thanks to a processing capacity of more than 3 million molecules per second.

The IIMCB role is to speed up the experimental part of the project and to determine the crystal structure of coronavirus functional proteins to evaluate the structural similarities with other viral proteins. Structural studies constitute a key stage of the rational drug development process.

The EXSCALATE4CoV project can be implemented thanks to the funding the European Commission stepped up in an emergency call dedicated especially to research on COVID-19 vaccine development, treatment and diagnostics. The call was announced only in January 2020. The project lasts from April '20 to September '21.

Basic facts:

• Project title: EXaSCalesmArtpLatform Against paThogEns for Corona Virus

• Project Acronym: EXSCALATE4CoV

• Project Coordinator: Andrea Beccari, Dompe

• IIMCB Project Leader: Marcin Nowotny, Laboratory of Protein Structure

• Grant Amount: ~3 m €

• Project duration: 18 months

• Consortium: 18 Partners

The E4C consortium:

1. Dompé Farmaceutici SPA

2. Politecnico di Milano (Dept. of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering),

3. Consorzio Interuniversitario CINECA (Supercomputing Innovation and Applications),

4. Università degli Studi di Milano (Pharmaceutical science Department),

5. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,

6. International Institute Of Molecular And Cell Biology In Warsaw (IIMCB),

7. Electra Italian Crystallographic Association,

8. Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology,

9. Barcelona Supercomputing Centre,

10. Forschungszentrum Jülich,

11. Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II,

12. Università degli Studi di Cagliari,

13. SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics,

14. KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Department of Applied Physics),

15. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN),

16. Associazione BigData,

17. Istitutonazionale per le malattie infettive Lazzaro Spallanzani,

18. Chelonia Applied Science.

www.exscalate4cov.eu

LATEST NEWS: 

• November 23, 2020: Exscalate4Cov 1 performed in Italy the most complex supercomputing experiment to identify new therapies against Sars Cov2 virus (See also: https://1trilliondock.exscalate4cov.eu) 

• July 1, 2020: Exscalate4CoV can now count on the two most powerful supercomputers in Europe in the race against the coronavirus

• June 18, 2020: EU-supported Private-Public Consortium Exscalate4CoV1: Raloxifene proposed for clinical trials after tests show it inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in vitro/in cells

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101003551.