John Timmer at arstechnica.com covers a new project at IBM’s World Community Grid, aimed at using distributed computing for combating viral diseases:
IBM has announced the latest project for their World Community Grid distributed computing effort, and it has the potential to be a significant one: a search for molecules that block the reproduction of flaviviruses. That obscure name represents a number of very obvious health issues, as this family of viruses causes dengue fever, yellow fever, hepatitis C, and West Nile disease. The new effort brings together resources from a variety of institutions in the hope of combating these deadly diseases.
Other projects at “The Grid” include climate change research in Africa and drug discovery for fighting AIDS and Muscular Dystrophy.