Scientists at Scripps Research are doing molecular modelling simulations for the development of treatments for COVID-19. This effort requires massive amounts of computing power, therefore Scripps Research has partnered with World Community Grid, a social impact initiative that allows anyone with a computer and an internet connection to donate their device’s computing power.
COVID-19 has some powerful enemies. And now you can join them. #OpenPandemics is live! #GoodTechIBM https://t.co/HopNjph7LB pic.twitter.com/DpoGAtelbh
— World Community Grid (@WCGrid) May 14, 2020
At St Edmund’s College, our IT Department has donated spare server capacity for the past few months as a Beta test, which has now become available to the public. If you would like to join the St Edmund’s College team in donating spare computing power, you can:
- Visit the IBM World Community Grid website.
- Download the secure software program to your computer. Then, when your computer is not using its full computing power (e.g. while you are typing an email, browsing the internet, or while your computer is idle but left on), the program will automatically run a simulated experiment in the background.
- Your computer then contacts the World Community Grid server to let it know that it has completed the simulation, which is automatically and securely sent back to them. This accelerates a process that could otherwise take years.
You can learn more about the project here.