The global spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) has hit a historic tipping point impacting almost every nation. As the virus continues to spread, researchers and technology experts alike search for a vaccine to save lives. At Acumium, in addition to taking immediate steps to work remotely, limit travel and all the other precautions, we’re also taking part in a unique project from Stanford University to help battle COVID-19 called Folding@home, and you can too.
As a distributed computing project, Folding@Home is using donated computer resources to imitate the dynamics of the COVID-19 viral structure in an effort to hunt for new therapeutic opportunities by using computer simulations to understand how the various proteins that make up the virus interact and fold. The project has had success in simulating challenging problems in protein folding and currently has projects to study Ebola, Zika, Dengue Fever among other infectious diseases. By using donated computer time, they can harness resources from across the globe, performing the massive computations and simulations at scale. In doing so, there is the potential of identifying opportunities faster that the research community can leverage to slow or block the virus.
At Acumium we are already donating available computer resources and are actively running simulations, passing back data to the Folding@Home team. We have a bank of Mac Minis that is 100% dedicated to supporting FAH and the study of COVID-19.
So how can you help? FAH needs processing power and help running these simulations in order to come to a solution quicker. If you’re also interested in volunteering processing power to combat the spread of COVID-19 feel free to head to Folding@home to get started.