Research Overview



Completed Research (26)


 
Microbiome Immunity Project

Did you know that trillions of bacteria live inside and on your body? In this comprehensive study of the human microbiome, you can help scientists understand the role these bacteria play in disease.

 
OpenZika

Help scientists search for antiviral drugs to combat the Zika virus, which can cause severe neurological problems, including birth defects in children whose mothers were infected during pregnancy.

 
FightAIDS@Home - Phase 2

The first phase of FightAIDS@Home made significant advances in HIV research. As the virus evolves, the research team is now pioneering the use of new analysis techniques to better identify promising anti-HIV drugs.

 
Outsmart Ebola Together

Ebola is a deadly virus that kills up to 90% of infected victims. Use your computer to help scientists find the most promising drug leads to fight the Ebola virus!

 
Uncovering Genome Mysteries

Uncovering Genome Mysteries expects to examine close to 200 million genes from a wide variety of life forms, such as seaweeds from Australian coastlines and microbes found in Amazon river samples.

 
Computing for Sustainable Water

The mission of the Computing for Sustainable Water project is to study the effects of human activity on a large watershed and gain deeper insights into what actions can lead to restoration, health and sustainability of this important water resource. The extensive computing power of World Community Grid will be used to perform millions of computer simulations to better understand the effects that result from a variety of human activity patterns in the Chesapeake Bay area. The researchers hope to be able to apply what is learned from this project across the globe to other regions which face challenges of sustainable water.

 
Say No to Schistosoma

The mission of the Say No to Schistosoma project is to identify potential drug candidates that could possibly be developed into treatments for schistosomiasis. The extensive computing power of World Community Grid will be used to perform computer simulations of the interactions between millions of chemical compounds and certain target proteins. This will help find the most promising compounds that may lead to effective treatments for the disease.

 
GO Fight Against Malaria

The mission of the GO Fight Against Malaria project is to discover promising new drug candidates that could be developed into new drugs that cure drug resistant forms of malaria. The computing power of World Community Grid will be used to perform computer simulations of the interactions between millions of chemical compounds and certain target proteins, to predict their ability to eliminate malaria. The best compounds will be tested and further developed into possible treatments for the disease.

 
Drug Search for Leishmaniasis

The mission of Drug Search for Leishmaniasis is to identify potential drug candidates that could possibly be developed into treatments for Leishmaniasis. The extensive computing power of World Community Grid will be used to perform computer simulations of the interactions between millions of chemical compounds and certain target proteins. This will help find the most promising compounds that may lead to effective treatments for the disease.

 
Computing for Clean Water

The mission of Computing for Clean Water is to provide deeper insight on the molecular scale into the origins of the efficient flow of water through a novel class of filter materials. This insight will in turn guide future development of low-cost and more efficient water filters.

 
The Clean Energy Project - Phase 2

The mission of The Clean Energy Project is to find new materials for the next generation of solar cells and later, energy storage devices. By harnessing the immense power of World Community Grid, researchers can calculate the electronic properties of hundreds of thousands of organic materials – thousands of times more than could ever be tested in a lab – and determine which candidates are most promising for developing affordable solar energy technology.

 
Discovering Dengue Drugs - Together - Phase 2

Scientists from The University of Texas Medical Branch and the University of Chicago have joined with World Community Grid researchers to combat some of the most widespread viral diseases in the developed and developing world. The project's immediate goal is to uncover novel drugs to cure dengue hemorrhagic fever, hepatitis C, West Nile encephalitis, and Yellow fever; these diseases result from infection with viruses from the family Flaviviridae.

 
Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy - Phase 2

World Community Grid and researchers supported by Decrypthon, a partnership between AFM (French Muscular Dystrophy Association), CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research), Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, ENS Lyon, Université Paris XI, Bordeaux 1, Lille 1 and IBM are investigating protein-protein interactions for more than 2,200 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.

 
Influenza Antiviral Drug Search

The mission of the Influenza Antiviral Drug Search project is to find new drugs that can stop the spread of an influenza infection in the body. The research will specifically address the influenza strains that have become drug resistant as well as new strains that are appearing. Identifying the chemical compounds that are the best candidates will accelerate the efforts to develop treatments that would be useful in managing seasonal influenza outbreaks, and future influenza epidemics and even pandemics.

 
Help Fight Childhood Cancer

The mission of the Help Fight Childhood Cancer project is to find drugs that can disable three particular proteins associated with neuroblastoma, one of the most frequently occurring solid tumors in children. Identifying these drugs could potentially make the disease much more curable when combined with chemotherapy treatment.

 
The Clean Energy Project

The mission of the Clean Energy Project is to find new materials for the next generation of solar cells and later, energy storage devices. By harnessing the immense power of World Community Grid, researchers can calculate the electronic properties of tens of thousands of organic materials – many more than could ever be tested in a lab – and determine which candidates are most promising for developing affordable solar energy technology.

 
Nutritious Rice for the World

The objective of this project is to predict the structure of proteins of major strains of rice. The intent is to help farmers breed better rice strains with higher crop yields, promote greater disease and pest resistance, and utilize a full range of bioavailable nutrients that can benefit people around the world, especially in regions where hunger is a critical concern.

 
Help Conquer Cancer

The Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI), Princess Margaret Hospital and University Health Network have teamed with World Community Grid to improve the results of protein X-ray crystallography in order to increase understanding of cancer and its treatment.

 
AfricanClimate@Home

The mission of AfricanClimate@Home is to develop more accurate climate models of specific regions in Africa. This 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 can be implemented. World Community Grid's tremendous computing power will be used to understand and reduce the uncertainty with which climate processes are simulated over Africa.

 
Discovering Dengue Drugs - Together

The mission of Discovering Dengue Drugs – Together is to identify promising drug leads to combat the Dengue, Hepatitis C, West Nile, Yellow Fever, and other related viruses. The extensive computing power of World Community Grid will be used to complete the structure-based drug discovery calculations required to identify these leads.

 
Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy

This 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

 
Genome Comparison

World Community Grid and the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Fiocruz, will be comparing genomic information to improve the quality and interpretation of biological data and our understanding of biological systems, host-pathogen and environmental interactions. This information can play a critical role in the development of better drugs and vaccines, and improved diagnostic procedures.

 
Help Defeat Cancer

World Community Grid and The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers University and UMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School will be examining Tissue Microarrays to determine how to improve the treatment of cancer with earlier and more targeted diagnostic tools.

 
Human Proteome Folding - Phase 2

Human Proteome Folding Phase 2 (HPF2) continues where the first phase left off. The two main objectives of the project are to: 1) obtain higher resolution structures for specific human proteins and pathogen proteins and 2) further explore the limits of protein structure prediction by further developing Rosetta software structure prediction.

 
FightAIDS@Home

FightAIDS@Home is a project focused on using computation methods to identify candidate drugs that have the right shape and chemical characteristics to block HIV protease. This approach is called "Structure-Based Drug Design", and according to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, it has already had a dramatic effect on the lives of people living with AIDS.

 
Human Proteome Folding

The Human Proteome Folding project will provide scientists with data that predicts the shape of a very large number of human proteins. These predictions will give scientists the clues they need to identify the biological functions of individual proteins within the human body. With an understanding of how each protein affects human health, scientists can develop new cures for human diseases such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, SARS, and malaria.