Open Source
Open Science
Distributed computing has helped us understand how proteins fold and pave the way for patent-free drug discovery. Millions of home computers contribute to developing drugs to fight Cancer, COVID-19, and Alzheimer's every day.
what do proteins have to do with computers?
what is protein folding?
Proteins are functional collections of molecules. To do their work, they assemble themselves into a specific shape, or ‘fold’.
Proteins are tiny chains of amino acids that perform every function in the body. When these aminos fold incorrectly, they cause diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's. But we don't know how they do this yet.
Drag to fold protein
why do we need computers?
To accurately understand how a protein will fold, we must simulate the forces in the human body every millionth of a second.
With such extreme time scales, each protein chain having more than 1030 different combinations. Supercomputers are needed to even stand a chance at solving for the correct combination.
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Just how powerful do computers need to be?
Folding @ Home Users:
march 11, 2020
The CDC declares COVID-19 a global pandemic
As COVID-19 spread and worldwide isolation came into effect, people wanted to do their part to help fight the pandemic. Folding@Home, a distributed computing project let anyone turn their computer into a vaccine-finding machine.
june 3, 2020
Folding@Home becomes the first body of computers to cross the exascale barrier.
Less than 60 days after Folding@Home announced its participation in finding a vaccine; 1,000,000 people joined the platform. These million people were more powerful than the worlds 10 fastest supercomputers. Combined.
| Computer | Ops/sec x 1015 |
|---|
helping reduce costs
The data generated by these computers is public information. Making research costs for other institutions less expensive.
Distributed computing projects produce open source data. Anything it returns is free for all to use. With free, first-round data available, scientists can get into the complex work of developing drugs with much less upfront cost.
courtesy: ny times$
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get involved
How can you help?
Want to help contribute to live saving therapies? Learn more about the institutions below and download their free installer to get folding!
faq
projects
Rosetta@Home
Rosetta@Home is working to identify candidate protein areas for COVID-19 antiviral drugs. These antiviral drugs will be used to shorten the length of severe reactions to COVID-19.
about rosettaFolding@Home
Folding@Home is also actively working to identify candidate protein areas for COVID-19 antiviral drugs. This is currently the largest distributed computing project.
about folding