Why and how to donate your idle CPU time to Rosetta @home

Do you leave your computer on even if you won't be using it for a while? Why not use that time that it's just sitting idle to do some good for science, and indeed, all of humanity? It requires no work from you aside from the initial set up time.

Here's how it works. Boinc is an application that is used to manage many science projects that require huge amounts of computer processing power. With Boinc, anyone from anywhere in the world can donate their computers' idle time to contribute to the processing demands of these various projects.

As a biochemist, the project I personally see as the most promising and useful to us is Rosetta @Home. This project's goal is to come up with a computer program that can accurately predict a given protein's 3D structure, and therefore infer its function, develop drugs to target the protein, and understand its physiological role. Determining a single protein's structure currently takes years of research, and hundreds of thousands of dollars; and not all proteins' structures can be determined experimentally.

If a computer program such as Rosetta @Home could accurately predict the structure of most or even some proteins that are known to cause disease, it would ultimately be of great benefit to human health, and scientific progress in general.

Please join team Lockpickguide.com on Rosetta @Home folding.

First, download Boinc. Then install the Boinc client. Follow onscreen instructions to set up and account and attach to Rosetta @Home, and any other Boinc projects you find useful, inspiring, or interesting. Then go to your Rosetta @Home account, by clicking in the Boinc manager on the Rosetta project and following the 'your account' link. Search for teams by clicking the 'community' link near the top. Search for lockpickguide.com. Join team Protein folding from Lockpickguide.com.

Thank you.

Have any questions?

I won't collect any info or download any viruses, I just want to get to know my visitors! I'm usually online at night after work (in eastern US) or on the weekends.