National Anton Resource for Biomolecular Simulation

Anton systems were designed to vastly accelerate the process of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. With Anton, biomedical researchers can gain valuable insight into the motions and interactions of proteins and other biologically important molecules. The MD research community uses Anton at PSC to investigate significant biological phenomena that due in part to their intrinsically long timescales have been outside the reach of even the most powerful general-purpose supercomputers.

The third-generation Anton is the first and only resource available to the community capable of simulating multiple millions of atoms at speeds of microseconds per day, thus achieving biologically relevant timescales in a timely manner. The ability to simulate millions of atoms in a reasonable timeframe will bring new understanding of large biological systems such as viruses and ribosomes and of phenomena that occur in the millisecond timescale, such as protein folding, aggregation, and membrane deformations.

Anton at PSC is made available without cost by DESRES for non-commercial research use by US universities and other not-for-profit institutions, and is hosted by PSC with operational support from the NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Contact anton-support@psc.edu with any questions about Anton at PSC.

Apply

Anton is allocated annually via a Request for Proposals with proposals reviewed by a committee convened by the National Research Council at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

To qualify for an allocation on Anton, the principal investigator must be a faculty or staff member at a US academic or not-for-profit research institution.

The Anton RFP period is closed. Be sure to watch for an announcement about the next RFP opportunity next summer.

To help with proposal submissions, we offered two webinars on September 23, 2024:

2:00-3:00 PM (EDT)   – Anton 3 Capabilities and Enhanced Sampling Techniques 

This webinar introduced the third-generation Anton system to the research community, explaining its capabilities and enhanced sampling techniques.

Using Anton 3

Documentation on using Anton 3 will be available by early 2025.

Instructions to use Anton 2 can be found on the Anton 2 page.

Anton End User Agreement

Please review the terms and conditions of the End User Agreement (EUA) for the Use of Anton at PSC before submitting a proposal.

Once the awards have been made, a form will be provided through which you can acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to your responsibilities as an Anton user by accepting the terms and conditions of the Anton 3 EUA.

 All users, including PIs and group members, who are awarded time on Anton 3 must agree to the terms of the EUA before they receive access to Anton or to the introductory workshop.

Introductory workshop

A workshop covering all aspects of running MD simulations on Anton is presented each year. It is offered by invitation only to the most recent allocations awardees.