SomeUser44
Member
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2011
- Messages
- 12
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
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- CA
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- ON
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- SS
I did a search on the forum and did not find any post on this....
Ive been folding for several years. Basically you install software on your PC and it runs proteins folding simulations to try to under stand why proteins misfold. Thousands (or tens of thousands now) of people run these simulations and effectively makes a "super computer". The folding project is run by Stanford University. Its been running for about 10 years now I think, but ive read they can simulate things 1000 times longer then there original goals 10 years ago.
From there website
More info:
Folding@home - Main
Download link for windows (note: you can use all the default settings then simple start the application normally after installing)
http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/release/[email protected]
One common project they work on is Parkinson disease (especially on GPU (video cards)) and apparently the simulations they run for Parkinson could potentially help explain some of the ALS.
Few notes you need to know:
1# Mis-folded proteins are only theorized to cause some of these diseases.
2# It can take months of simulations from thousands of donards to just simulate something that takes just a few milliseconds.... This is more of a very thorough research as opposed to overnight magic cure.
3# If you keep your PC on 24/7 normally, then running this will probably increase power bill by about 5-10$ per month...
If anyone is interested in this, ill try to answer questions... Properly configured a high end PC can use all 4/6/8 cores for folding maxed out at 100% (aka: you fold a lot more).... If you have a high end Video card, you can also use that (I do most of my folding with my video card).
Ive been folding for several years. Basically you install software on your PC and it runs proteins folding simulations to try to under stand why proteins misfold. Thousands (or tens of thousands now) of people run these simulations and effectively makes a "super computer". The folding project is run by Stanford University. Its been running for about 10 years now I think, but ive read they can simulate things 1000 times longer then there original goals 10 years ago.
From there website
Moreover, when proteins do not fold correctly (i.e. "misfold"), there can be serious consequences, including many well known diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many Cancers and cancer-related syndromes.
More info:
Folding@home - Main
Download link for windows (note: you can use all the default settings then simple start the application normally after installing)
http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/release/[email protected]
One common project they work on is Parkinson disease (especially on GPU (video cards)) and apparently the simulations they run for Parkinson could potentially help explain some of the ALS.
Few notes you need to know:
1# Mis-folded proteins are only theorized to cause some of these diseases.
2# It can take months of simulations from thousands of donards to just simulate something that takes just a few milliseconds.... This is more of a very thorough research as opposed to overnight magic cure.
3# If you keep your PC on 24/7 normally, then running this will probably increase power bill by about 5-10$ per month...
If anyone is interested in this, ill try to answer questions... Properly configured a high end PC can use all 4/6/8 cores for folding maxed out at 100% (aka: you fold a lot more).... If you have a high end Video card, you can also use that (I do most of my folding with my video card).