Finding a cure for Ebola is a priority now that the disease is more widespread than ever. However, scientists need a lot of computing power for figuring out what chemical compounds we need to mix together to find the perfect drug.
Now you can help in the search for an Ebola cure by putting your computer's unused time to good use. By installing a simple, yet safe, program, the Scripps Research Institute will use your computer as part of an overall virtual supercomputer to work faster and more efficiently at finding the cure.
This effort is possible thanks to IBM's World Community Grid. The project, called "Outsmart Ebola Together," based at The Scripps Research Institute, has mapped out Ebola's structure, as well as discovered vulnerabilities in the virus. The hope is that with the help of the world's computing power, a cure will be found quickly.
The World Community grid has over three million computers and mobile devices connected to it. Its volunteers have participated in more than 20 research projects and donated over one million years of their computer's time to that research. IBM offers these resources to scientists and members of the public at no charge.
Chemical compounds that seem promising as an Ebola cure will get actual testing in a lab against the virus. There, scientists will modify those compounds and make them better, lessening any side effects. Eventually, one of those drugs will get trials and hopefully become approved as a treatment or cure.
In the past year, Ebola has gone from a rare infectious disease to a widespread one, mostly because people are more mobile now than in the past. The disease often ends in death, so finding a better treatment, or even a cure, is now a healthcare priority.
"Our molecular images of the Ebola virus are like enemy reconnaissance," says Dr. Erica Ollmann Saphire of The Scripps Research Institute. "These images show us where the virus is vulnerable and the targets we need to hit. In the Outsmart Ebola Together project, we will be able to harness World Community Grid's virtual supercomputing power to find the drugs we need to aim at these targets."
IBM's World Community Grid has experience with this kind of project and has done something similar in search for drugs for AIDS, cancer, flu and malaria. It recently helped a Japanese cancer center find new drug candidates to fight a specific form of cancer in children.
"It is a privilege to partner with The Scripps Research Institute to advance the process of identifying an Ebola cure," said Stanley S. Litow, IBM's vice president of Corporate Citizenship and president of the IBM International Foundation. "It is only fitting that IBM's World Community Grid 10-year anniversary of accomplishments coincide with the launch of perhaps one of the most critical scientific and humanitarian efforts."
If you would like to donate your computer's time to Outsmart Ebola Together, you can do so on the World Community Grid website.
[Photo Credit: The Scripps Research Institute]
