Team UBBDevSome of you may have noticed the new "avatars" being sported by a few of the members here - thanks to
Stilgar , those who have
joined Team UBBDev in the battle to fight cancer. They are recieving them this week as a bit of recognition and gratitude for helping us in our goal to become the #1 team in finding drugs suitable for cancer treatment. If we haven't gotten your badge yet, we will today. Keeping the badge is also dependent on continued support
.
UD UpdateParaphrased from an article in
The Register , here's a few tidbits to explain what the project is all about:
"Next month the one millionth person will download the screensaver that Oxford University boffins say will knock four years off the process of finding potential cancer-fighting drugs...
How's the project doing?Launched in April, the scheme, which aims to search for drugs for 16 types of cancer, is growing much faster than expected. Organisers initially predicted they would get around a million computers hooked up to the program by the end of the year-long project. With 20,000 people currently signing up per week, they now expect to reach the million figure in half the time.
As a result, the university has increased the total number of molecules it aims to examine from 2.5 million to 3.5 billion (made up of 35 molecules with 100 derivatives of each).
How does the scheme work?It's a peer-to-peer project, so people download the screensaver - which is a joint effort between Oxford University, US company United Devices, US charity the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) and Intel.
When computers are dormant, they are sent a unit of molecules and the software gets to work to see how they interact with different proteins that have been identified as possible targets for cancer therapy.
The analysis is carried out via software called THINK, (developed by Oxford University research fellow Keith Davies), and when a molecule fits with the protein the computer gets a "hit". All hits are recorded, with the strongest ones eventually going forward to be used for the cancer drugs research."
The results are sent to Oxford University and the NFCR is able to sell the results to drug companies to fund more research projects... the small app doesn't slow your computer down and you don't have to be connected to the net full-time to participate, results will be uploaded the next time you are signed on. Firewalls are also supported for those who connect from across a network or behind a home firewall.
Thank you to those who have joined, and for those who haven't,
please do .
