Folding is a some kind of bio/chemical process. That’s my extent of the knowledge in that field. I try to get people to donate their computer time to help in this cause to find a cure for cancer, and trying to understand better about protein and its behaviors.
In research, resources are hard to come by. So what Stanford University’s Prof. Vijay Pande started 2001 is recruiting people’s computer for time to crunch through the computer simulations. Ever since I found out about it few years ago, I have thrown whatever I could at donating time.
On personal side of things, I have lost way too many people to cancer. First person was my cousin who died in his early 20’s due to leukemia. Then over the time, I have lost 1 aunt, 1 uncle, 2 of my grandparents, 1 friend, all to cancer in one form or another. Soojin’s 2 uncles and 1 aunt have died from liver cancer, another uncle just recently diagnosed with early form of liver cancer. It sucks. I hate the disease with passion. And for the longest time, I felt helpless. But when I found out about this distributed computing, I signed up.
Sure, you have to pay for your own electricity, but if my computer helps in finding a cure, it is a small price to pay. You can donate as much or as little as you wish. With today’s computers, this form of distributed computing surpasses that of supercomputers.
So please, please, please! Donate your computer and its time!
