Fighting anthrax by PC
The University Chemistry Department is to carry out innovative research into anthrax, with plans to make the results available to several governments. The joint project, which will be sponsored by Intel and Microsoft in association with United Devices, was launched last week in response to the recent occurrences of the disease following September 11th.
The idea builds upon the highly successful cancer screen saver project launched last April by the University and the US National Foundation for Cancer Research. On that occasion, idle computer time on 1.3 million PCs worldwide was pooled to screen potential anti-cancer agents.
The new project aims to use the Internet in order to find molecules that could be used to produce a more effective therapy for anthrax. The Oxford University group has developed software whichallows the screening of the millions of molecules for potential inhibitors.
Prof. Graham Richards, Chairman of Chemistry at Oxford said: "Massively distributed computing provides efficient and speedy ways to identify new drug candidates. Without this technology and the support of our collaborators, there would be no other way to tackle such a tremendous task." Professor Richards, scientific director of the project, recently donated his stake in a drug research firm to a cancer charity.
The Anthrax Research Project is expected to run for about six weeks and, if successful, the toxin will be rendered useless as a weapon. PC users can join in the project by downloading the screen saver from <a href="http://www.intel.com/cure">Intel's site</a>.
31st Jan 2002