20 Years of PME: Symposium Honoring Professor Darrin York, Tom Darden, and Lee G Pedersen

September 9, 2013
Darrin M. York
Lee G. Pedersen
Tom A. Darden
2013 year marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of the first "Particle-mesh Ewald" (PME) paper, which initiated the use of so-called "Fast Ewald" methods in simulations. These methods have computational costs that scale proportionally (linearly) with the size of the molecular system, and for the first time allowed very large macromolecular systems to be simulated stable on long time scales. This methodology revolutionized the ability of computational simulation techniques to model large scale biological systems, such as proteins and especially nucleic acids, where long-range ionic forces have crucial effects on structure and dynamics. The use of fast Ewald methods has enabled the calculation of a myriad important systems, including proteins, DNA and RNA, lipid bilayers, and macromolecular assemblies at affordable computational cost. This anniversary will be highlighted at the upcoming ACS National Meeting in Indianapolis, IN at the symposium entitled "20 years of PME: A symposium in honor of Tom Darden, Lee G Pedersen and Darrin York", Sep. 8-9, organized by G Andrés Cisneros (Wayne State University), Celeste Sagui (NC State) & Jean-Philip Piquemal (Paris VI University).