Working on the FightAIDS@Home project involves downloading and installing a free software package, provided by the Olson Laboratory. The software uses spare capacity on the computer to identify potential drugs that have the right shape and chemical properties to block HIV protease. This is an enzyme that plays a key role in the infection of cells by HIV, so inhibiting its action disrupts the ability of the virus to spread throughout the infected person.
Scale of the AIDS Problem Worldwide
Since the AIDS epidemic began twenty years or so ago, more than 60 million people have been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). According to UNAIDS, between 2000 and 2020 about 68 million people will die prematurely as a result of AIDS. Most of this death toll will be in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently the life expectancy there is about 47 years. Without the effect of AIDS it would be 62 years.
Children and young people are the hardest-hit by the epidemic, with more than 14 million children being orphaned so far. It is estimated that the world community will need to spend $25 billion on AIDS services in 2010.
AIDS Drug Design
Many scientific investigations are carried out using computational methods. Software programs that encode physical, chemical and biochemical laws that underlie some phenomenon are often used to study particular chemical interactions in the human body. The researchers at the Olson Laboratory use computational methods to identify candidate drugs that have the right shape and characteristics to block the action of HIV protease. This is a key molecular machine: when blocked, it prevents the virus maturing, thus avoiding the onset of AIDS.
Following the identification of these candidates, they can then be synthesized in the laboratory and tested in assays and cell cultures. A very few such drugs will be free enough from side-effects to be suitable for testing in human volunteers. A successful compound will eventually be released as a prescription drug.
How the FightAIDS@Home Project Works
The first step is to download and install the FightAIDS@Home client. This is a free piece of software, available from the World Community Grid. It downloads small pieces of data, and then performs calculations using the drug design software AutoDock, to predict how small molecules might bind to a receptor of known 3D structure, in this case the HIV protease. Such computations require a vast number of trial dockings, testing variations in the target and also in the trial drug molecules.
After the computer has processed the information, the results are automatically sent back to the Scripps Research Institute, where they are analyzed by researchers from the Olson Laboratory. The computing power needed for this approach to drug design is so large that is only feasible because of the availability of distributed computing.
Many promising compounds have already been identified through this project, but there is always need for more. Anyone who joins in this project can take satisfaction in knowing that they are helping to counteract the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS, and bringing hope to millions of people across the world.
Source: FightAIDS@Home
Trevor Lewis - Trevor Lewis has been working in the IT industry for the last thirty years. He also has a long-standing interest in astronomy and space ...
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