Drs. Noah Allen and Keith Krumpe of UNC Asheville’s Department of Chemistry have been awarded a $150,000 grant for a high-speed computation cluster for biotechnology development in the Western North Carolina region.

A Regional Development Grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NCBC) provided $75,000, which was matched by UNC Asheville. The grant, which was recently announced by Dr. Maria Rapoza, NCBC vice president of science and technology, represents a continuation of NCBC’s long-term support of UNC Asheville.

The new high-speed computational cluster will allow UNC Asheville to partner with regional biotechnology companies to investigate the interactions of biologically important molecules. Once installation is complete, it will be one of the largest supercomputers in North Carolina. This grant allows UNC Asheville to expand its scientific work, help existing biotechnology companies grow, and stimulate regional economic development.