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On February 5, 2003, United Devices along with IBM and Accelrys launched the Smallpox Research Grid Project: a joint research effort to identify candidates for developing new drugs that, for the first time, would combat the smallpox virus post-infection.
The global threat of a smallpox outbreak as a result of a bioterrorist or military attack demands that scientists find new and faster ways to identify a cure. Now, accelerated drug discovery research — powered by commercial products from United Devices, IBM, and Accelrys — will make it possible to discover smallpox drug candidates at a record pace.
The first counter-bioterrorism project to be powered by United Devices was the Anthrax Research Project. Working with scientists from Oxford University, United Devices provided its Global MetaProcessor technology to screen billions of molecules for suitability as potential treatments for advanced-stage Anthrax.
Smallpox was eliminated from the world in 1977 by a World Health Organization campaign. Despite this, stocks of the variola virus are known to exist and its use as a weapon of bioterrorism remains a frightening possibility. With vaccination having ended in 1972, the world population is highly susceptible. The availability of drugs to counter the virus would be a major defense.
There is a possible molecular target whose blockade would prevent the ravages of an infection. We intend to use grid computing to screen millions of potential anti-smallpox drugs against this target. This will involve the use of the United Devices Global Metaprocessor, which we have successfully used in the past towards cancer and anthrax research. The project can harness millions of computers belonging to people in over two hundred countries, all of whom will benefit from protection against smallpox.
The Smallpox Research Grid Project involves screening 35 million potential drug molecules against several protein targets — one of the largest computational chemistry project ever undertaken. Typically, a project of this magnitude is too great for any single organization to tackle. The expectations are that, by combining a high-throughput screening application with the substantial power provided by grid computing, the project will shave years off the time required to develop a commercial drug.
Creating a Grid Solution Using Off-The-Shelf Components
This project uses the Accelrys docking and scoring application LigandFit to analyze, measure and rank each candidate molecule's interaction with smallpox-related proteins. As strong candidates are identified, the likelihood increases that a cure, potentially successful in laboratory experiments and clinical trials, will be found.
Powering the project is a 2-million device public grid running MetaProcessor software from United Devices. This software is available for deployment inside corporate enterprises, as a hosted pay-per-use service, or (as in this case) on a global grid.
A project of this scale requires a solid hardware and data infrastructure. Filling this need are IBM eServer p690s running DB2 database software on AIX and Linux operating systems.
Project Data Statement for the Smallpox Research Grid Project
The Smallpox Research Grid Project ("Project") will attempt to analyze approximately 35 million molecules against a series of protein targets related to smallpox. This Project is made possible through the support of several Partner Organizations who have made various contributions to this effort. The Partner Organizations include: Accelrys, Evotec OAI, IBM, Oxford University, United Devices, and numerous scientific researchers led by Dr. Grant McFadden and Dr. Stewart Shuman.
Accelrys will contribute the LigandFit virtual screening software;
Evotec will provide the modeling expertise;
Oxford University, assisted by researchers at Essex University, will prepare the proteins for use with LigandFit and has contributed the large molecular library;
United Devices will provide the grid computing software called the MetaProcessor and has coordinated all aspects of the Project. It has contracted with PC owners for the use of their idle computing time; and
IBM Corporation is providing the infrastructure technology (high-performance computing and data management software) that will be used for the Project, as well as funding and marketing support to assist in the Project's launch.
The hope is that a combination of the above efforts will help identify the most promising drug-like molecular candidates that could be effective in combating smallpox.
Join Now by clicking this link - PatriotGrid Team for Naval Aircrewmen
You yourself can participate and
assist in this important effort. By downloading and running
the UD Agent, you add your CPU to the global grid. Every time your
computer is idle, you contribute your computing resource to the grid,
accelerating the screening process while dramatically reducing the cost
of the project.
The result: Rather than spending years to screen hundreds of thousands of molecules, it will be possible to screen hundreds of millions of molecules in just months.
The UD Agent itself will keep you up-to-date on several aspects of the project — ligands processed and their structure, and number of leads identified — so you can see the progress you're enabling and witness the power of this global computing grid. The global participation at grid.org has now passed the 2 million mark—with over 2 million CPUs worldwide, grid.org is the largest public grid in operation.