Grid Computing News : IBM Grid Speeds Cancer Research

Thanks to the IBM-sponsored World Community Grid , researchers will be able to complete decades of cancer research in a year or two. A research team composed of scientists from the Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI), Princess Margaret Hospital and University Health Network is the first from Canada to use the World Community Grid, a volunteer network of PCs and laptops that boasts as much power as any of the world's top five supercomputers. The team will use the grid to analyze the results of experiments on proteins using data collected by scientists at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute in Buffalo, N.Y. The analysis would take conventional computer systems 162 years to complete, according to IBM, but the grid will give researchers the power to complete the analysis in one or two years. The result will be a better understanding of how proteins function, which could lead to the development of more effective cancer-fighting drugs.... read more