Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!bionet!UHNIX2.UH.EDU!davison From: davison@UHNIX2.UH.EDU (Dan Davison) Newsgroups: bionet.general Subject: Re: Special purpose computer for genes from Applied Biosystems ? Message-ID: Date: 12 Jan 90 17:39:21 GMT References: <9001121332.AA09283@danpost.uni-c.dk> Sender: daemon@genbank.BIO.NET Lines: 36 > 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.