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I just downloaded the Alzheimer's program. This is good stuff... Mario ----- Original Message ----- From: "Linda J Herman" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2001 7:50 AM Subject: Re: United We Are Many: Help find Cures with Your Computer > John Cottingham posted the article " Intel Philanthropic Peer-to-Peer > Computing Program to Help Accelerate Alzheimer's Research" a few days > ago. > If you haven't done so already - take a look aat the suggested website > http://www.intel.com/cure > This is really fascinating stuff! It seems to provide an easy and > important way we can help further the research process. > John, are you or is anyone else participating in this project? > > Does anyone know if there are Parkinson's researchers involved in such > peer-to-peer computer programs? If not, the existing programs for > Alzheimer's leukemia and AIDS research are looking for volunteers and > certainly seem worthwhile . > > Below are two additional articles about peer-to-peer computing and > medical research. This quote from the first article particularly caught > my eye: > > "Organizers believe that eventually their project could cut by more than > half the time > it takes to develop a drug." > > Could anyone give us more information about peer-to-peer computing. One > question is if this could increase chances of picking up computer > viruses? > Linda > > ARTICLE 1: > Peer-to-peer to serve as basis for research > American Medical News > May 28, 2001 > Authors: Tyler Chin > > "INTEL CORP. AND PROMINENT CANcer researchers are launching an effort to > create a "virtual supercomputer" by linking millions of computers over > the Internet to find cures and improved treatments for cancer and other > life-threatening conditions. > > Under the initiative, called the Intel Philanthropic Peer-to-Peer > Program, > those who own PCs would allow participating researchers to tap unused > disk > space and processing power in their computers to solve problems that > require > massive computing power. The American Cancer Society, National Foundation > for Cancer Research, University of Oxford and United Devices Inc., a > technology > company in Austin, Texas, are sponsoring the project along with Intel. > > Intel, the leading seller of microprocessors that are the brains of a > computer, > plans to approach the AMA to get physicians to donate unused processing > power to the cancer research program, a spokesman said. > > The AMA had no comment because it hasn't been approached yet, a > spokeswoman > said. > > The research project will use a technology known as peer-to-peer, which > allows users to share computer resources and services by direct exchange > between systems. > > It will attempt to link the hundreds of millions of computers connected > to the Internet, thus creating a virtual supercomputer that researchers > can use to research the cancer-fighting properties of molecules. > Organizers > believe that eventually their project could cut by more than half the > time > it takes to develop a drug. > > While the Intel-sponsored project initially will focus on leukemia, > organizers > plan to expand research to other types of cancer and serious conditions > such as Parkinson's disease and diabetes. > > To participate in the project, PC owners must download a software program > from Intel's Web site (http:ll www.intel.com/curel). The program, > developed > by United Devices, will run in the background when users use applications > such as word processing or spreadsheets, or as a screen saver when PCs > are idle. It will run only when unused processing power is available on > your PC, and you should not see any performance problems when you use > your > computer, organizers said." > > ARTICLE 2 > Philanthropic p-to-p > InfoWorld > Jun 18, 2001 > Authors: Cathleen Moore > > "FightAIDSatHome uses volunteers' idle computing power to do drug > research > calculations > > TEN YEARS AGO, when Art Olson and a team of researchers at The Scripps > Research Institute developed an algorithm that could be used to improve > the design of drugs that fight AIDS, Olson felt like he was standing at > the bottom of a towering mountain. > > Olson's work as director of the molecular graphics laboratory at the La > Jolla, Calif-based institute uses a process of mathematical computations > called "molecular docking" to test how AIDS drugs interact with virus > proteins. > Olson's ongoing project, sponsored by the National Institute of Health, > holds significant promise for combatting the daunting problem of drug > resistance > in the treatment of AIDS and HIV, according to Olson. > > "Our interest has been in developing computational methods to help > predict > how the evolution of drug resistance occurs in the virus and how we can > design better drugs against resistance. It is a real clinical problem," > Olson says. "The AIDS virus generates about a billion different mutations > each day, and some of those mutations work better with drugs than > others." > > The research project was slowly chipping away at the problem of drug > resistance, > but the project's scope was limited by lack of computing resources. > > "When we started this project, we didn't have the computing capacity to > do detailed calculations. So we started with simple calculations to give > us some principals and info to begin working with," Olson explains. > > Olson and his colleagues had dealt with only a small part of the > calculation; > the research requirements were potentially much larger. > > "It is a very large computational problem. You are talking about millions > upon millions of different docking calculations," Olson adds. > > During the research, Olson's laboratory was contacted by Entropia, an > emerging > peer-to-peer distributed computing service based in San Diego. Entropia > offered to lend Olson's AIDS research the power of an expansive p-to-p > computing environment. P-to-p leverages the power of a variety of > distributed, > Internet-connected devices, pooling the collective power of otherwise > unused > resources. > > "Today, people have processors on their desks that are pretty much > equivalent > to the individual processor in a supercomputer, but they don't have the > very fast interconnect between those processors," Olson says. > > Not all scientific calculations can take advantage of p-to-p computing, > but Olson says he knew that his molecular docking project was structured > in a way that distributed problem solving could support. > > In partnership with Olson and The Scripps Research Institute, Entropia > launched its FightAIDSatHome project last September, providing the > infrastructure > and software needed to sustain a large distributed network of peers. > Olson > and his team set up programming scripts that contain all the information > needed to run a piece of the larger calculation. > > The FightAIDSatHome service works by breaking the laboratory's large > computational > problems into small assignments, which are then distributed via the > Internet > to individual computers that have downloaded Entropia's free software. > As of last month, 25,810 machines have volunteered CPU space to the > project. > These contributions have resulted in 767,532 tasks completed for the > docking > calculation, according to Entropia. > > When a participating computer is on and connected to the Internet, it > connects > to the Entropia server and downloads a docking calculation. When the > volunteer > computer's CPU is idle, it gives time toward the research calculation. > The calculation grinds away continuously as a background process on > volunteer > machines, running from minutes to hours to complete the job. When it is > done, it sends results back and asks for a new problem to work on. > > Aside from the contribution of much needed computing resources, one of > the biggest rewards of the FightAIDSatHome project has been the growth > of a network of budding research enthusiasts, according to Olson. The > project's > Web site, at www .fightaidsathome.org, provides information on how > volunteers > can get involved further and allows volunteers to set up teams of users > and then track how well their teams do. > > "Not only can we take advantage of distributed computing for my > calculations, > but we also get people interested and involved in the scientific > research, > which is important," Olson says. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn