Crowdsourced Supercomputing Projects Take On Coronavirus

Self-quarantine is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of Coronavirus or COVID-19, which people are following strictly. But even at home, one can join the war against the virus by connecting online. As a number of research programs are being formed to create therapies and vaccines, one of the leading projects is the largest crowdsourced computing projects in the world.

Named as Folding@home, the project is led by computational biophysicist Greg Bowman, PhD, an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The project relies on the power of computers running at a volunteer’s home, to perform complex calculations for simulating protein dynamics. Volunteers around the world can install a software program to run the calculations on computing while no other function is being performed. 

Bowman and team are trying to find out the structure of COVID-19’s spike protein which is used by the virus to infect cells. The project was announced way back in February, and now to focus on COVID-19, the number of Folding@home volunteers have increased with the number hitting close to 4,00,000 new folders joining. 

Recently, Bowman has shared a glimpse of the moving COVID-19 spike protein, which consists of three different spike proteins that sit together like a 3D puzzle. The simulation by Bowman shows how a pocket helps trigger the virus to bind with human cells and infect them. Commenting on the virus, Bowman said that understanding all the various shapes that the spike protein can take on as its molecules bounce and shift can lead to the development of new drugs that can block it, stopping the virus from infecting more cells.
Anyone willing to join the force against COVID-19 from home can visit Folding@home.