Four years of volunteer computing power helped predict more than 330,000 protein structures. Now, the project's time on World Community Grid is coming to a close. But the data analysis and publication are just beginning.
Background
Trillions of bacteria live inside and on our bodies. The Microbiome Immunity Project uses the computational power of World Community Grid to study the proteins produced by these bacteria, which are encoded in their genomes. This can help scientists understand the role of the microbiome in disease.
First paper published (and more in progress)
The research team recently published a paper in Nature Communications about the techniques that they have developed as a result of the project.
There are two additional papers in progress, and the researchers will keep us updated about their status as the work goes forward.
The project's future
Volunteer computing power has helped the research team predict the structures of more than 330,000 proteins since the project launched in 2017. With recent advances in technology, there are now ways to analyze this particular type of data more quickly than was possible four years ago. Therefore, the project's time on World Community Grid will be ending as soon as the current work units are completed.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this project since its inception. The researchers are preparing an update for us, and will keep us informed about future papers and discoveries that may result from the data.
You can read a post directly from the researchers in the Microbiome Immunity Project forum.
Current status of work units
- Available for download: 1,310 batches
- In progress: 3,846 batches (8,420,064 work units)
- Completed: 331,125 batches (1,368 batches in the past 30 days,
an average of 46 batches per day) - Estimated backlog: 28 days
Click here to learn more about World Community Grid's monthly project updates.