End of the Drug Search for Leishmaniasis Phase 1


A big thank-you from the research team as the Drug Search for Leishmaniasis project analyzes the results from grid computations.



A successful collaboration
For the past two years, World Community Grid members have been helping a research team from the University of Antioquia in Medellí­n, Colombia, simulate chemical compounds to see which ones might bind to key proteins in the Leishmania parasite. This is a crucial first step in developing a better treatment for this neglected tropical disease, which affects millions of people each year but gets very little research attention.

Thanks to the computing power you provided, the chemical binding simulations were completed earlier this year. The researchers have already started combing through the 7 TB of raw data provided by World Community Grid volunteers, to determine which of the potential molecules might become the basis for practical treatments. As Dr. Carlos Muskus explained in his recent forum posts, the analysis of the raw data has already revealed several promising compounds, and the next step is to complete the analysis phase and secure funding for in-vitro testing. Therefore, we can officially close Phase 1 of the Drug Search for Leishmaniasis project on World Community Grid.

The researchers send their thanks to the over 120,000 World Community Grid members who participated in this project. Together, you donated over 37,000 years of computing time and carried out almost 60 million calculations for this project. With your help, the researchers were able to analyze their original proteins, add several new proteins to the list of targets, and still cut the required completion time by more than 100-fold. Depending on the results of their work over the next several months, a second phase of the project may be started next year.

What you can do next
Current volunteers can continue to support projects that still need your help. Please log in to your My Projects page, review your project selections and make sure you have at least one active project selected. Better yet, consider checking the two boxes on your My Projects page: one that allows you to receive work from other projects if no work is available for the projects you selected, and one that opts you in to new projects as they become available.

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