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Active Research  Nutritious Rice for the World, Computational Biology Research Group, University of Washington, Seattle, USANutritious Rice for the World, which launched on May 12, 2008, is featured in this newsletter! Read all about it here. For more information: Nutritious Rice for the World information on World Community Grid Nutritious Rice for the World Forum University of Washington: Nutritious Rice for the World web site  Help Conquer Cancer, Ontario Cancer Institute, Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, CanadaHelp Conquer Cancer, which launched in November, 2007, is featured in this newsletter! To read the article, please click here. For more information: Help Conquer Cancer information on World Community Grid Help Conquer Cancer Forum Ontario Cancer Institute: Help Conquer Cancer web site  AfricanClimate@Home, Climate Systems Analysis Group, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South AfricaThis project used the vast computational power of World Community Grid to improve the models used to predict the climate by conducting simulations in small regions of Africa and then checking them against real observations. This knowledge will serve as a basis for understanding how the climate will change in the future so that measures designed to alleviate the adverse effects of climate change may be implemented. The project started in September of 2007 and finished in June of 2008. Additional phases are expected in 2009. For more information: AfricanClimate@Home information on World Community Grid AfricanClimate@Home Forum Climate Systems Analysis Group: AfricanClimate@Home web site  Discovering Dengue Drugs – Together, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA and the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USAThis project is identifying novel drugs to combat flavivirus infections that cause dengue hemorrhagic fever, West Nile encephalitis, yellow fever, hepatitis C, and other illnesses. This project is running in two phases. Phase 1 is running the AutoDock program, which is also in use for the FightAIDS@Home project. Phase 2 of this project uses CHARMM, a molecular dynamics program from Harvard University. Phase 1 began in August 2007 and is expected to finish in late 2008. Phase 2 is scheduled to start before the end of 2008. For more information: Discovering Dengue Drugs – Together information on World Community Grid Discovering Dengue Drugs – Together Forum UTMB: Discovering Dengue Drugs – Together web site  Human Proteome Folding – Phase 2, Bonneau Laboratory, New York University, New York, New York, USAProteins are the key to understanding everything about the human body. If you know the structure of a protein, then you also know its function. The second phase of this project is focusing on proteins that are key markers for disease diagnosis and impact, with a special focus on proteins linked to malaria, anthrax, food-borne illnesses, and sexually-transmitted diseases, as well as phytoplankton, which is responsible for a large portion of the oxygen in our atmosphere and interesting for its impacts on climate change. The Human Proteome Folding – Phase 2 project launched in October 2006 and is expected to run through 2009. For more information: Human Proteome Folding – Phase 2 information on World Community Grid Human Proteome Folding – Phase 2 Forum Bonneau Laboratory: Human Proteome Folding – Phase 2 web site  FightAIDS@Home – Phase 2, Olson Laboratory, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USAFightAIDS@Home is using computational methods to identify new candidate drugs to block HIV protease, a key molecular structure that when blocked, stops the virus from maturing and thus is a way of avoiding the onset of AIDS and prolonging life. With the first phase of research completed, World Community Grid is now working on the second phase, which is analyzing one instance of protease against the National Cancer Institute's entire data set of 230,000 chemicals. While the research continues, Scripps has already identified 40 chemicals that merit further laboratory testing, and several of these have gone to the second phase of testing, moving closer to potential drugs. This project launched in November 2005 and is expected to run through 2009. For more information: FighAIDS@Home information on World Community Grid FightAIDS@Home Forum Scripps Research Institute: FightAIDS@Home web site Inactive Research  Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy, AFM (French Muscular Dystrophy Association), CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) Paris, FranceThis project is investigating protein-protein, protein-DNA and protein-ligand interactions for the 10,000 proteins whose structures are known, with particular focus on those proteins that play a role in neuromuscular diseases. The database of information produced will help researchers design molecules to inhibit or enhance binding of particular macromolecules, hopefully leading to better treatments for muscular dystrophy and other neuromuscular diseases. Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy (Phase 1) was launched in December of 2006 and finished in June, 2007. At the present time the researchers are analyzing the results of Phase 1 and are making the necessary changes to their software in anticipation of Phase 2, which is expected to start in late 2008. The second phase of this project will study in more detail the identified protein interactions involved in neuromuscular diseases such as muscular dystrophy and many others. Researchers are now collecting from other French scientists interested in the project a set of proteins important for muscular dystrophy that will be tested. This knowledge should help in better understanding the molecular basis for these diseases and should lead to methods for better treatment and cures. For more information: Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy information on World Community Grid Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy Forum Decrypthon: Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy web site Completed Research  Genome Comparison, The Oswaldo Cruz Institute – Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilThe Genome Comparison Project performed pair-wise comparisons among and between all genes for all sequenced organisms (from human beings to fruit flies to yeast) and built a database of the results. Because most of the proteins (which are the machinery that ultimately make everything in cells work) coded by these genes have not had their functions identified, this database will be very helpful in determining the functions of these proteins. If the gene coding for a protein of unknown function is similar to another gene which has been extensively studied in another organism, then most probably the function of the unstudied protein is somehow related to the function of the known one. Because the database will be available to the research community, other scientists will have a huge headstart in understanding what these proteins do, how they play a role in disease processes, and ultimately in understanding how to devise a drug to combat a disease involved with the particular protein in question. This project was launched November 2006 and was completed in July 2007. For more information: Genome Comparison information on World Community Grid Genome Comparison Forum Fiocruz: Genome Comparison web site  Help Defeat Cancer, The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers University, and UMDNJ – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USAHelp Defeat Cancer used the power of World Community Grid to analyze tissue microarrays (TMA) — a breakthrough investigative tool that gives researchers improved understanding of cancer biology and could uncover new sub–classifications of cancer that will point to more accurate prognosis for cancer patients and new, more effective courses of treatment. The project, which was launched in July 2006 and completed in less than 10 months, has enabled researchers to analyze a much larger set of cancer tissue specimens and conduct experiments using a much broader ensemble of antibodies and stains than would be possible using traditional computer resources. The results are now the key to a national network of cancer institutes sharing data for diagnostic purposes that is being developed with funding from the U.S. government. For more information: Help Defeat Cancer information on World Community Grid Help Defeat Cancer Forum The Cancer Institute of New Jersey: Help Defeat Cancer web site  Human Proteome Folding — Phase 1, The Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, Washington, USAThe first phase of the Human Proteome Folding project mapped all of the proteins in the Human Genome, as well as several other organisms to determine their shape and function. The first peer-reviewed article based on the research conducted on World Community Grid has been published in the scientific journal PLoS Biology, a general biology journal published by the Public Library of Science, a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource. This first paper demonstrates that using the computational power of World Community Grid, researchers were able to validate a new and more efficient way to understand protein structure that is just as reliable as other existing methods. For more information: Human Proteome Folding information on World Community Grid Human Proteom Folding – Phase 2 information on World Community Grid
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