Launch of the Drug Search for Leishmaniasis Project

This project is provided by the University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia, with assistance from researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. This project hopes to identify potential molecule candidates that could possibly be developed into treatments for Leishmaniasis

Leishmaniasis is one of the most neglected tropical diseases in the world. Each year this disease infects more than two million people in 97 countries. To date, there are no available vaccines to prevent the disease.

Existing control measures rely upon drug therapy, insect control and education in the affected communities. However, the number of human cases continues to increase in tropical countries such as Bangladesh, India, Sudan, Ethiopia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and many others.

The classical treatments for all forms of Leishmaniasis can cause severe side effects, and even lead to death. Furthermore, drug resistant parasites are causing major problems in many endemic countries. For these reasons, there is an urgent need for new, safe and inexpensive anti-Leishmania drug compounds.

A software program called VINA from The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, will be used to perform the virtual chemistry experiments. These virtual experiments will search to find which of millions of drug compounds might be able to disable particular proteins, essential for the parasite's survival. Screening for the best potential drug compounds is an early step in the process of developing effective treatments for the disease. With enough computing power, this screening can be done much more quickly than using conventional laboratory experiments.

For additional information on this project, please press the Research button in the upper navigation bar or click here.

Press Release

To view the press release for this project please click here.

Press Conference Video

The September 7, 2011 press conference at the University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia features Dr. Carlos Muskus and Rodrogo Ochoa. To view the video, please click here.

Participation in the Drug Search for Leishmaniasis project

Drug Search for Leishmaniasis is the eighteenth research project to be launched on World Community Grid and one of nine projects currently running on World Community Grid. The other eight research projects are:

• Computing for Clean Water (launched August, 2010)
• The Clean Energy Project – Phase 2 (launched June, 2010)
• Discover Dengue Drugs – Together – Phase 2 (launched February, 2010)
• Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy – Phase 2 (launched May, 2009)
• Help Fight Childhood Cancer (launched March, 2009)
• Help Conquer Cancer (launched November, 2007)
• Human Proteome Folding - Phase 2 (launched July, 2006)
• FightAIDS@Home (launched November, 2005)

For more detailed information and FAQs about each of these projects, please click on the Research button in the upper navigation bar. We thank all of our members for their valuable contributions to the projects to date and hope you will continue to help us process those, as well as this latest project.

Because there are nine research projects running on World Community Grid, your grid agent could receive work units from any of the projects depending on your Project profile. If you prefer, you may elect to focus your computer's time only on particular projects. To do so, press the My Grid button in the upper navigation bar and select My Projects or click here. Work is sent only to machines which meet minimum system requirements set for a particular project. To read more specifics on the system requirements for the Drug Search for Leishmaniasis project and the other projects, click here.

Project Badge

If a member contributes a minimum of 14 days of CPU Run Time to this project, they will receive a Drug Search for Leishmaniasis project badge on their member statistics page and next to their member name when they post in the forums. There is a different badge for each research project and beta testing. To read more about badges, click here.

Forums

In addition to providing information about this project, we have created a forum for discussions about the Drug Search for Leishmaniasis project. To participate in this forum, please press the Forums button in the upper navigation bar or click here. Only forum authors with the title "Drug Search for Leishmaniasis Scientist" are authorized to comment as representatives of the University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia.

Questions?

If you have any questions, World Community Grid provides you with four methods of obtaining assistance: (1) Review the FAQs found in the Help section of the website; (2) Review the forums to see if anyone has asked/answered the question that you have; (3) Ask the question in World Community Grid's Drug Search for Leishmaniasis project forum found here and a Community Advisor or a more experienced member will provide an answer; or (4) Send an email to the support desk from the Contact Us link found at the bottom of every page of the website (except in the forums).

We thank you for contributing to the Drug Search for Leishmaniasis project.