May 7, 2006
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IDG News Service (04/13/06)
Kirk, Jeremy
Approximately 80,000 people from around the world are contributing their computer power via the Internet to assist the Rothberg Institute for Childhood Diseases in the study of potential drug treatments for avian influenza. Volunteers from 93 countries have downloaded a screen saver application that simulates the binding of drug molecules with proteins, or targets, in avian flu. The screen saver appears in a computer's program tray, and the program begins when a computer is idle. The research institute compares what the program does to searching through a batch of keys, or drugs, for the one that fits a protein in the virus. The program then sends the results back to the research institute. The researchers are using the distributed computing approach to send new targets in minutes to volunteers' computers when they are running the program, called the Drug Design and Optimization Lab (D2OL). H5N1 neuraminidase, which officials fear is most likely to spread from birds to humans, is the first avian flu target of the research institute.
For the full article see http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/04/13/77408_HNbirdfluproject_1.html
Posted by rab5 at 09:43 AM
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