You can certainly help coronavirus research: Hook notebook to crowdsourced virtual supercomputer
23 March, 2020
Gamers, bitcoin "miners" and companies large and small have teamed up for an unprecedented data-crunching effort that aims to harness idle computing capacity to accelerate research for a coronavirus treatment.
The project led by computational biologists has effectively created the world's most effective supercomputer that can handle trillions of calculations needed to understand the structure of the virus.
A lot more than 400,000 users downloaded the application form in the past two weeks from "Folding@Home," according to director Greg Bowman, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Washington University in St. Louis, where in fact the project is based.
The "distributed computing" effort ties together a large number of devices to make a virtual supercomputer.
The project at first launched at Stanford University twenty years ago was made to use crowdsourced computing power for simulations to better understand diseases, especially "protein folding" anomalies that may make pathogens deadly.
"The simulations allow us to watch how every atom moves throughout time," Bowman told AFP.
The massive analysis looks for "pockets" or holes in the virus in which a drug can be squeezed in.
"Our primary objective is to search for binding sites for therapeutics," Bowman said.
The powerful computing effort can test potential drug therapies, a method referred to as computational drug design.
Bowman said he's optimistic concerning this effort for the reason that team previously found a "druggable" target in the Ebola virus and because COVID-19 is structurally like the SARS virus which includes been the main topic of many studies.
"The best chance of the near-term future is if we are able to find a preexisting drug that may bind to one of the sites," he said.
"If that happens it may be used immediately." This is more likely to include drugs like the antimalarials chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine which may be "repurposed" for COVID-19.
Bowman said the project has been able to boost its capacity to some 400 petaflops -- with each petaflop having a capacity to handle one quadrillion calculations per second -- or 3 x stronger than the world's top supercomputers.
Other supercomputers are also working in parallel. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory said earlier this month that through the use of IBM's most powerful supercomputer it had recognized 77 potential compounds that could bind to the main "spike" protein of the coronavirus to disarm the pathogen.
The Folding@Home project is fueled by crowdsourced computing power from people's desktops, laptops and even PlayStation consoles, in addition to better business computers and servers.
"There is absolutely no end to the compute power than we are able to use in principle," Bowman said. Large tech organizations including Microsoft-owned GitHub are also participating, and the project is in discussions with others.
Anyone with a comparatively recent computer can contribute by installing an application which downloads a tiny amount of data for analysis. People can choose which disease they wish to work on.
"It's like bitcoin mining, but in the service of humanity," said Quentin Rhoads-Herrera of the security firm Critical Start, which has provided its powerful password "hash cracker" computer designed to decrypt passwords to the project.
Rhoads-Herrera said his team of security researchers, sometimes described as "white hat hackers," were encouraging more persons to get involved.
Computer chipmaker Nvidia, which makes powerful graphics processors for gaming devices, called on gamers to join the effort aswell.
"The response has been record-breaking, with thousands of new users," joining, said Nvidia spokesman Hector Marinez.
One of the major contributions originates from a Reddit band of PC enthusiasts and gamers which has some 24,000 members participating.
"This is a fantastic weapon against the sensation of helplessness," said Pedro Valadas, a legal professional in Portugal who heads the Reddit community and is part of the project's advisory board.
"The actual fact that anyone, at home, with a computer, can play a role and help fight (disease) for the normal good is a powerful statement," Valadas told AFP.
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