TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Personal Computers Enlisted in AIDS Research

Personal Computers Enlisted in AIDS Research

Reuters News Wire (reuters@telecom-digest.org)
Wed, 23 Nov 2005 22:16:57 -0600

A new project in the fight against AIDS will tap into the unused power
of individual and business computers to help research and identify
drugs used to combat the HIV virus.

An Internet-based initiative, called FightAIDSatHome, aims to enlist
about 100,000 computer users to donate the use of their machines when
they would otherwise be idle.

Participants' machines can request data from a central server, process
it and send back the results.

The organizers hope to develop new chemical strategies to treat
HIV-infected individuals, according to the San-Diego based Scripps
Research Institute, which is behind the effort.

By being able to tap into a vast reservoir of computer processing
power, researchers will be able to approach problems more aggressively
and quickly, Scripps said.

It is the second research project using the network of computers,
called the World Community grid, which is funded by IBM.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

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[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This seems to be a very useful project;
I hope some readers will decide to help with it. There was a project
going on (maybe still is?) where computers were enlisted during
off-hours to listen to random radio static from outer space and
attempt to find some intelligence in it all. Is that project still
going on? This latest effort, to find some cure for AIDS seems to
be worthwhile also. PAT]

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