AI on AWS
This platform represents AWS's first suite of machine learning tools.
What is SageMaker?
This is the main scheduler of Parallel Cluster to which jobs are submitted. It requires specific language such as "srun" and "sbatch".
What is slurm?
This open-source workflow management system is one of the most common way to orchestrate protein-folding workloads, or any pipeline, really, especially on AWS.
What is Nextflow?
This three-letter command tells you which directory you're currently in - invaluable after you've SSH'd into a server and completely lost the plot.
What is "pwd"?
He was Tennex's first full time employee.
Who is Michael ("Pichael")?
This AWS managed service lets you call Claude, Llama, and Amazon's own Titan models through a single API.
What is Amazon Bedrock?
This static compute resource in charge of the cluster is always online, ready to receive incoming jobs. Many scientists will also install analytical tools such as Jupyter or Posit Workbench on this server to simplify access to data.
What is the head node?
This DeepMind model became famous in 2020-2021 for essentially solving the protein structure prediction problem and giving every biotech a new protein-building toy. It also won the 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry.
What is AlphaFold?
Type these two letters, along with the flags "-lah" and you'll see every file in your current directory, including hidden dotfiles and permission bits.
This Tennex founder does NOT own a tractor.
Who is Jack?
These are AWS's two purpose built silicon chips for AI workloads - one for training, one for inference - both aimed at undercutting NVIDIA on a cost-per-token basis.
What are Trainium and Inferentia?
This AWS-managed parallel file system, popular for scratch storage on Parallel Cluster, derives its name from a portmanteau of "Linux" and "Cluster". Don't say it too loudly near Jack, lest he become an unskippable cutscene.
What is FSx for Lustre?
Protein folding workloads can be notoriously GPU-hungry, so you'd best run them on EC2 instances from families starting with these two letters - the same families that train major LLMs.
What are "p" and "g"?
This single vertical-bar character chains commands together by sending stdout from one into the stdin of the next.
What is a pipe ("|")?
This Tennex offering was built to replace the Biotech Blueprint 2.0.
What is the Simple Cloud Accelerator?
This platform was recently rebranded as "Amazon Quick", an agentic AI assistant designed to streamline workflows by connecting to business applications.
What is Amazon QuickSight?
When the job queue is empty, Parallel Cluster's compute fleet scales down to this number of compute nodes by default.
What is zero?
Born at MIT in 2024 as a faster, lightweight alternative to AlphaFold, this tool got its name from an Austrian physicist who discovered statistical mechanics. It's also Blake's archnemesis.
What is Boltz?
This command changes a file's permission bits. Pair it with "+x" to make a freshly written script executable.
What is "chmod"?
It was Tennex's name before it was "Tennex" (and still shows up from time to time).
What is GeneCloud?
This AWS platform, originally a feature of Amazon Bedrock, wraps a foundation model with Knowledge Bases, Action Groups, and orchestration to enable deploying and operating AI agents securely at scale.
What is Amazon Bedrock AgentCore?
What is the "AWS Parallel Computing Service (AWS PCS)"?
This worldwide, publicly accessible database, curated since 1971, stores experimentally determined protein structures. It's where AlphaFold learned to fold!
What is the "Protein Data Bank (PDB)"?
When you launch a long-running job in an SSH session and don't want it to die when your laptop goes to sleep, you launch it inside this terminal multiplexer (or its older cousin).
What is "tmux"/"screen"?
This company's drug "zolucatetide" was recently granted Fast Track designation by the FDA after showing more than 40% reduction in tumor size in two patients. They also have the distinction of being Tennex's first client.
Who is Parabilis Medicines ("FogPharma")?