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Smoldyn on Graphics Processing Units: Massively Parallel Brownian Dynamics Simulations
May-June 2012 (vol. 9 no. 3)
pp. 655-667
ASCII Text
x 
 
L. Dematte, "Smoldyn on Graphics Processing Units: Massively Parallel Brownian Dynamics Simulations," IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 655-667, May-June, 2012.
 
 
BibTex
x
 
@article{ 10.1109/TCBB.2011.106,
author = {L. Dematte},
title = {Smoldyn on Graphics Processing Units: Massively Parallel Brownian Dynamics Simulations},
journal ={IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics},
volume = {9},
number = {3},
issn = {1545-5963},
year = {2012},
pages = {655-667},
doi = {http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TCBB.2011.106},
publisher = {IEEE Computer Society},
address = {Los Alamitos, CA, USA},
}
 
 
RefWorks Procite/RefMan/Endnote
x 
 
TY - JOUR
JO - IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
TI - Smoldyn on Graphics Processing Units: Massively Parallel Brownian Dynamics Simulations
IS - 3
SN - 1545-5963
SP655
EP667
EPD - 655-667
A1 - L. Dematte,
PY - 2012
KW - stochastic processes
KW - biochemistry
KW - biodiffusion
KW - Brownian motion
KW - chemical reactions
KW - fluctuations
KW - graphics processing units
KW - physiological models
KW - computational demanding steps
KW - Smoldyn
KW - graphics processing units
KW - massively parallel Brownian dynamics simulation
KW - biochemical systems
KW - single molecule movement
KW - localized fluctuations
KW - diffusion
KW - spatial models
KW - stochastic methods
KW - high spatial resolution
KW - parallel simulation algorithms
KW - stochastic simulation
KW - chemical reactions
KW - GPU
KW - Graphics processing unit
KW - Biological system modeling
KW - Computational modeling
KW - Solid modeling
KW - Adaptation models
KW - Stochastic processes
KW - Surface treatment
KW - GPU.
KW - Parallel
KW - reaction-diffusion
KW - particles
KW - Brownian Dynamics
VL - 9
JA - IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
ER -
 
L. Dematte, Center for Comput. & Syst. Biol., Microsoft Res.-Univ. of Trento, Trento, Italy
Space is a very important aspect in the simulation of biochemical systems; recently, the need for simulation algorithms able to cope with space is becoming more and more compelling. Complex and detailed models of biochemical systems need to deal with the movement of single molecules and particles, taking into consideration localized fluctuations, transportation phenomena, and diffusion. A common drawback of spatial models lies in their complexity: models can become very large, and their simulation could be time consuming, especially if we want to capture the systems behavior in a reliable way using stochastic methods in conjunction with a high spatial resolution. In order to deliver the promise done by systems biology to be able to understand a system as whole, we need to scale up the size of models we are able to simulate, moving from sequential to parallel simulation algorithms. In this paper, we analyze Smoldyn, a widely diffused algorithm for stochastic simulation of chemical reactions with spatial resolution and single molecule detail, and we propose an alternative, innovative implementation that exploits the parallelism of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). The implementation executes the most computational demanding steps (computation of diffusion, unimolecular, and bimolecular reaction, as well as the most common cases of molecule-surface interaction) on the GPU, computing them in parallel on each molecule of the system. The implementation offers good speed-ups and real time, high quality graphics output.

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Index Terms:
stochastic processes,biochemistry,biodiffusion,Brownian motion,chemical reactions,fluctuations,graphics processing units,physiological models,computational demanding steps,Smoldyn,graphics processing units,massively parallel Brownian dynamics simulation,biochemical systems,single molecule movement,localized fluctuations,diffusion,spatial models,stochastic methods,high spatial resolution,parallel simulation algorithms,stochastic simulation,chemical reactions,GPU,Graphics processing unit,Biological system modeling,Computational modeling,Solid modeling,Adaptation models,Stochastic processes,Surface treatment,GPU.,Parallel,reaction-diffusion,particles,Brownian Dynamics
Citation:
L. Dematte, "Smoldyn on Graphics Processing Units: Massively Parallel Brownian Dynamics Simulations," IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 655-667, May-June 2012, doi:10.1109/TCBB.2011.106
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