justeric78:I have the first page done on the FAQ I am still working on it so if there are more ideas then let me know. There is so much data already on the Stanford page I am trying to take advantage of it and not just type it all out over and over instead just linking pages. I am sure Carlos will put up what I have so far soon.
Below is what we have so far. Feel free to reply and suggest additions, etc. Remember . . . our target audience are non computer users.
- Juan Carlos
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rez410's input
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The basic windows Graphical version can typically be run without any
configuration changes. This was designed this way for those not so
computer savvy so that they wouldn't have any issues in making their
contributions.
Why should someone contribute their computers Idle time to this cause?
Well... the folding project was designed to do research on proteins.
Proteins are one of the essential components to make all living things
function correctly. This research aides in the development for many
types of drugs and therapies for those that are afflicted with cell
problems that are caused by or result in misshapen proteins. One of
these possible protein failure issues is believed to cause cancer, or
better put allow cancerous cells to not die like they should. Some of
this research is also being done to try to find out why certain
proteins fold improperly... These misshapen proteins are believed to be
the cause of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cystic Fibrosis, Mad Cow,
one form of Emphysema, as well as Cancer.
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Justeric78's input
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Want to help find a cure for many common
diseases but don’t know how you can help?
EggXpert has the perfect way to get involved! Stanford University has created a program that
they are using to help find cures for some common diseases.
What is your computer doing when you are away doing
something else? It is most likely sitting there doing nothing at all wasting
all of that wonderful computing power!
Have you ever heard of distributed computing? This term on
it’s face basically means using multiple computers to do a piece of work to
come up with an answer. Think of it as a group of people sitting together
brainstorming the answer to a complex question.
As mentioned above Stanford University
is running a program that uses this distributed computing to utilize as many
computers as possible to find the cure for many common diseases such as:
You may ask yourself now how can our computers make the
difference in finding the cure for these diseases? Simply put our bodies are
made up of what is called proteins. Proteins are necklaces of amino acids -
long chain molecules. Proteins are the basis of how biology gets things done.
As enzymes, they are the driving force behind all of the biochemical reactions
which make biology work. As structural elements, they are the main constituent
of our bones, muscles, hair, skin and blood vessels. As antibodies, they
recognize invading elements and allow the immune system to get rid of the
unwanted invaders. For these reasons, scientists have sequenced the human
genome -- the blueprint for all of the proteins in biology -- but how can we
understand what these proteins do and how they work?
Since proteins play such fundamental roles in biology,
scientists have sequenced the human genome.
The genome is in a sense a "blueprint" for these proteins -- the
genome contains the DNA code which specifies the sequence of the amino acids beads along the protein
"necklace."
However, only knowing this
sequence tells us little about what the protein does and how it does it. In
order to carry out their function (eg as enzymes or antibodies), they must take
on a particular shape, also known as a "fold." Thus, proteins are
truly amazing machines: before they do their work, they assemble themselves!
This self-assembly is called "folding."
One of our project goals is to
simulate protein folding in order to understand how proteins fold so quickly
and reliably, and to learn how to make synthetic polymers