Help treat diseases with your computer

[ShawnD]

Would anybody here like to support some distributed computing projects to help treat/cure diseases? There are programs you can put on your computer which use spare CPU power to do calculations for medical research.

As most of you know, computers are a big part of research today. Unfortunately, researchers can't be spending their entire budget on computers just to crunch numbers; however, there is a work-around. Instead of the researchers buying computers, they can create software which can make any computer contribute to research by using spare CPU power to crunch numbers. Distributed computing projects do not slow down your computer; they have the lowest priority when it comes to using CPU power.

There are many different projects to support:

Find-a-Drug runs calculations to find molecules which will inhibit/kill viruses/bacteria which cause illness. The user can select which illness to crunch numbers for. I currently have 4 computers fighting AIDS with this program. This program uses about 11mb of RAM.

http://www.grid.org/download/gold/download.htm is mostly based around curing cancer, but according to their website, smallpox has been added. I don't remember exactly how much RAM this one uses but I think it was around 25mb.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/ does calculations for protein folding. I don't exactly know what good that will do because I'm not a biologist or a doctor. Maybe Monique knows. This program uses about 15mb of RAM.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/genome/ does calculations to study genomes. This is made by the same people who made Folding @ Home. This program uses about 15mb of RAM.

Drug Design Optimization Lab is a bit like Find-a-Drug but it uses 8x as much ram and doesn't let you choose which disease you are doing calculations for. Their aim was to cure normal diseases but after 9/11 they started gearing towards bioterrorism things like anthrax and smallpox. This program uses about 80mb of ram; that's why I don't recommend this one.



Please support one of them. Your computer might be the one to find the treatment for a disease you may get in the future.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Absolutely, I think there may be a way to get PF a group account and then we can all pitch in together. I know with the Genome project I can start a PF team that people can sign up for.

 

[tribdog]

Find-a-Drug runs calculations to find molecules which will inhibit/kill viruses/bacteria which cause illness. The user can select which illness to crunch numbers for. I currently have 4 computers fighting AIDS with this program. This program uses about 11mb of RAM.

4 computers? I've only had 4 computers since 1985-total. What are you doing with 4 computers up and running?

 

[ShawnD]

What are you doing without 4 computers up and running? At a certain point, a computer is no longer upgradable. For example, a 350mhz P2 is not upgradable. To get a faster processor, like an athlon, you would need a new CPU, new motherboard, new ram, new power supply, probably a new hard drive (they were really small and slow back then). It's easier to just buy another computer.

 

[hitssquad]

Spare computers or new computers for folding

http://www.overclockers.com.au/folding/News%20Jan%202002.htm build brand new computers solely for folding. It's not just something people do with spare cycles or spare computers.

 

[Cod]

So Greg, are you going to start a group/team on the Gnome Project? Please post all the information if you decide to start a PF one.

 

[mee]

Find-a-drug

I installed "find a drug" on my computer and it made an ambulance sound every 10 minutes or so. Long and loud! Horrible! Gave no clue that it was the program causing it! No visible way to stop it!

 

[ShawnD]

I installed "find a drug" on my computer and it made an ambulance sound every 10 minutes or so. Long and loud! Horrible! Gave no clue that it was the program causing it! No visible way to stop it!

That might be an overheating problem. Is your computer in a ventilated area? Is the back of the computer pushed right against the wall? Is your computer overclocked?

 

[mee]

That might be an overheating problem. Is your computer in a ventilated area? Is the back of the computer pushed right against the wall? Is your computer overclocked?

Thought it might be overheating. Cleaned it. Nothing. Welll ventilated area. Took off the program. No more noise. :) Not sure how such a small program running in the background would overheat my computer more that the other programs I run.

 

[member 5645]

http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/ does calculations for protein folding. I don't exactly know what good that will do because I'm not a biologist or a doctor. Maybe Monique knows. This program uses about 15mb of RAM.

I'll chime in on this one, and the simplest expanation I can give is:
Proteins are made of a long 'string' of amino acids. Based on the arrangement the 'string' of acids will fold up on to itself. This is a protein as we are used to seeing. Protiens fold and unfold in different ways in response to different stimulis and their amino acid profile.
Scientists don't know exactly how the proteins fold the way they do, and don't have the ability yet to determine with great accuracy how a protein will fold under different conditions.

Sickle cell anemia, for instance, is caused by a SINGLE amino acid difference in a protein. This different make up is responsible for the painful and life threatening shape red blood cells take in a person with sickle cell.

Many other diseases can be cured and/or treated if scientists can understand better this folding. This folding process affects all of us, even beyond those that are noticable ill.

 

[Phobos]

new CNN article on this topic...
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/11/16/science.ibm.grid.reut/index.html

 

[hypatia]

Great links. I took part in the Genome project back when PF was on the other forum...then {ouch} I lost everything in a house fire. It would be great to get the whole forum involved in projects like this.

 

[iansmith]

I set up a team for Folding @ home and the team number is 42986

 

[Monique]

Which search terms should I use in google to find such initiatives?

 

[Pengwuino]

Thought it might be overheating. Cleaned it. Nothing. Welll ventilated area. Took off the program. No more noise. :) Not sure how such a small program running in the background would overheat my computer more that the other programs I run.

That very well might be a temperature sensor that you took off lol. You really do need to look into your computer and check if any of the fans have failed (they should ALL be running) because hot processors = dead processors soon enough (and that alarm probably was the overheating alarm).

People hecka build computers just for folding though, its nuts. I go to http://www.overclock.net and am on the Folding@Home team there. I am starting a new computer sales business online so I am thinken of maybe throwing the program on the computers to stress test the components and help the cause :D. And of course, take the program off when its done...

 

[wolram]

Absolutely, I think there may be a way to get PF a group account and then we can all pitch in together. I know with the Genome project I can start a PF team that people can sign up for.

Count me in Greg, i could build a faster puter just for this.

 

[joahua]

Which search terms should I use in google to find such initiatives?

Try "distributed computing" or variants of that - because that's what this is. It's harnessing the power of thousands of computers all over the world by distributing smaller chunks of data for processing to them, as opposed to purchasing expensive time on supercomputers.

 

[selfAdjoint]

I think I should warn people about my problems with distributed computer. I signed on to help with the computing on the graviity-probe test of Einstein's GR theory. The Einstein @ Home people used the BOINC software and promised that it would only be active when I wasn't online. Maybe I did or didn't do something I should have, because it wouldn't shut down when I got on in the morning and drove my CPU usage through the roof. I finally had to disable it. In my opinion, even if it was ultimately something I did wrong that caused this, the interface is sufficiently user-unfriendly that it was truly theor failure.

 

[Monique]

You can change the settings to a certain CPU allowance. I too downloaded such software, which was set to operate at 100% CPU.. ofcourse my laptop would run red-hot if left the setting like that, I then changed it to a few CPUs.

 

[manbush]

I run Folding @ Home on 6 devices (2 is offline at the moment) 24/7.

I wouldn't run United Devices client because I heard that they use their "research" for profit and that data is not "published" like it is in Folding @ Home. Also, Folding @ Home have actually posted what they have "discovered" using the "research" that DC has generated.

 

[tyciol]

This is great, I already have Folding but I'll get these other ones too. Once I buy my super-comp with all it's excess RAM beyond the needs of my notepad writing I'll load em all on. Well, except Find-A-Drug, just went there and noticed the shut down the program, you should remove the link!

 

[Sane]

Wow, we really need to advertise the Folding @ Home team more! Only two members?

Folding @ Home is the most important Distributed Computing application, in my opinion, that you mentioned in this thread! It's helping solve almost every common deathly disease!

I go to a forum that only has 5,000 members, and we have a score of 412,265.

This forum has 50,000 members, and only 46,772 points. Think about how much this forum could accomplish, if even as little as 1 in 10 members chip in. You'd be one of the most significant teams on F@H (which does bring in traffic by the way).

I won't be joining, since I'm already folding for my team, but you should get more people helping out!

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

I have been using http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/ for quite a while now. They have two projects that your computer can work towards in just one program and are also are sponsored by IBM. Namely, their main current projects are "Fight AIDS @ home" and "Help Defeat Cancer". You can read about both of these at their website. If you want, you can download their software and start crunching with their software, but if you already have BOINC, you can also sign onto the project that way as well. I have made a team called "Physics Forums" if anyone wants to join.

I used to run folding @ home, maybe I should convert back.

 

[m_dp]

Great!But I don't know how to do it!

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

If you are referring to my post:

Go here, http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/reg/viewRegister.do

Register under any username you wish, then the next page will ask you to download the software, and then your computer will start working in the background. To sign up for the team just go to 'your grid' and press "My team" and "find a team" and then search for "physics" and you will see "physics forums" there. Click and join.

If you are referring to the other one, go to http://boinc.berkeley.edu/, download their software and sign up for the folding@home project, then put in the physics forum team number, 42986.

 

[Ki Man]

I just got W-Vista 3 days ago with a whole bunch brand new parts. planning on not cramming a bunch of junk and useless programs onto this computer like i did with my last one. Can someone explain a bit more how these programs work for me. will I get tracking cookies or something to that effect from them because my firewall is a tad overprotective and may not let me go through with tthis. does anyone know if the latest version of norton will block it.

Edit: by the way you may want to update the list. the first site no longer does research and the second does not accept windows vista right now

 

[MadScientist 1000]

Einstein@home is what I'm working on. They are using data from LIGO to find spinning Neutron Stars. It is pretty interesting for me actually.

Please join the team:

http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/team_display.php?teamid=7676 Here is their homepage:
http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/

Edit: by the way you may want to update the list. the first site no longer does research and the second does not accept windows vista right now

Linux time!

Wow, we really need to advertise the Folding @ Home team more! Only two members?

Folding @ Home is the most important Distributed Computing application, in my opinion, that you mentioned in this thread! It's helping solve almost every common deathly disease!

I go to a forum that only has 5,000 members, and we have a score of 412,265.

This forum has 50,000 members, and only 46,772 points. Think about how much this forum could accomplish, if even as little as 1 in 10 members chip in. You'd be one of the most significant teams on F@H (which does bring in traffic by the way).

I won't be joining, since I'm already folding for my team, but you should get more people helping out!

I was going to join, but I have an NVidia GeForce4 420MX

 

[Ki Man]

Ok, so far I've joined our PF boinc team for Einstein @ home, thinking about joining the folding team too. how many others are on the folding team right now?

Edit: wow this einstein thing is estimated to take about 5 hours to finish for this task. is it supposed to take that long? if i stop it and turn off my computer before I'm done, is there any way to continue?

+another edit: apparently this thing underestimates the power of my computer, telling me i have 5 hours of work to do when apparently my comp has shaved an hour off of the time left in less than 13 minutes. 5 hours = 1 hour?

 

[MadScientist 1000]

Ok, so far I've joined our PF boinc team for Einstein @ home, thinking about joining the folding team too. how many others are on the folding team right now?

Edit: wow this einstein thing is estimated to take about 5 hours to finish for this task. is it supposed to take that long? if i stop it and turn off my computer before I'm done, is there any way to continue?

+another edit: apparently this thing underestimates the power of my computer, telling me i have 5 hours of work to do when apparently my comp has shaved an hour off of the time left in less than 13 minutes. 5 hours = 1 hour?

You have a pretty good chip actually. I'm using a Pentium 4 2.40Ghz, and mine takes me about 3 hours to complete.

 

[Ki Man]

Edit: change of plans. apparently my dad doesn't want me downloading random things so i had to uninstall Einstein@ home. Hoping I won't have to uninstall Folding@home but it keeps turning itself on whenever i turn on the computer. trying to find a way around this but if i can't i'll have to uninstall. the FAQ doesn't say anything about it, and i don't see any options for this in the configure menu.

 

[iansmith]

You just have to delete the shortcut in the start up menu.

 

[Ki Man]

It isn't in my startup menu

 

[MadScientist 1000]

It isn't in my startup menu

Uninstall it, and when re-installing, tell it to not load on startup.

 

[Langbein]

But isn't these programs working exactely like wiruses and trojans ?

If you install a trojan with open eyes as it claim to fight AIDS, which guarantee do you have for that your newly installed trojan is as friendly as it claim to be ?

What is the argument to claim that using home computers in this way for a kind of distributed computing does have much reasonable ideas behind it, except for some project to see if it can work, and some hackers as well, to see if ddos attack etc can work.

Is it likely to believe that AIDS research projets uses methods that breakes with basic computer security.

ShawnD -> Are you really sure of what all your computers really are doing ?

Distributed denial of service attacks (ddos) is performed by fooling a huge number of people to install programs on their machine, that converts a huge number of PC's to remote controlled or time controlled attach machines.

One of the well known methods is to offer free security scans and then a free "security program" that in real life is a trojan.

I would not install some medical reseach program that have some of the same structure, unless I were quite sure about what I were doing.

It could be that most such projects is good ones until now, but for real hackers the distrubution of such programs should be a dream.

... Well I se that some of the project has adresses that seems to be secure, but I would really worry about the security if participating in such a project.

 

[russ_watters]

Langbein, these programs are put together by reputable organizations and if they were doing something malicious, it would be easy to see.