The computational Grid is a promising platform for the deployment of large-
scale scientific and engineering applications. Parameter sweep applications
(PSAs) arise in many fields of science and engineering and are structured
as sets of "experiments," each of which is executed with a distinct set of
parameters. Given that structure, PSAs are particularly well suited to the
Grid infrastructure and can be deployed on very large scales. However, depl
oyment is not easy to achieve for the domain scientist given the complexity
and multiplicity of the Grid software infrastructure, the heterogeneity of
the resources, and the dynamic resource availabilities. It is therefore ne
cessary to provide user-level middleware that acts as an intermediate layer
between the application and the Grid. That middleware must address all dep
loyment, data movements, and scheduling issues to provide the user with a t
ransparent way of running his or her simulation on the Grid. In this paper,
the authors focus on such middleware specifically targeted to a biology ap
plication: Well. After describing the application and its structure, they d
escribe desired usage scenarios on the Grid and identify user requirements,
discuss relevant computer science issues, and propose suitable solutions g
iven currently available Grid technologies. The authors then describe a gen
eral-purpose user-level middleware project for PSAs-AppLes Parameter Sweep
Template-explain how it can be extended to accommodate MCell's specific req
uirements, and introduce current work in that direction.