Hoosiers volunteer computers for research

Now, students can donate to cancer research without giving up cash.\nThe "Volunteer Your PC" Program, sponsored by Intel, United Devices, the National Foundation for Cancer Research and several other companies, is a way for people to help find a cure for cancer without giving a single penny. The program was launched April 3, and relies on teams of users to act as a virtual giant supercomputer to perform computing tasks that would otherwise be impossible.\nA software program called THINK is downloaded onto each participant's computer. When that computer isn't being used, the program is helping to process molecular research being conducted by the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oxford in England and the National Foundation for Cancer Research.\nWhile the thought of allowing an online-based program to run in the background while a computer is idle might conjure images of hackers and viruses, United Devices representative Andy Prince said the software is safe. \n"The risk is very little," Prince said. "It tends to actually be safer than most of your Web browsers that are out there. We put every kind of encryption possible between our servers and all the machines that are out there working."\nVern Wilkins, acting assistant director for Library Information Technologies, has formed a team for the University. So far, six members have joined, but Wilkins said he sees great potential for this type of research. \n"Most computers just sit idle, and even when you are doing something such as typing an e-mail message, your computer is not really working very hard," Wilkins said. "Distributed computing technology allows people to plan large projects where data is downloaded to PCs all over the world."\nWith "Volunteer Your PC," each connected computer analyzes molecules that could be matched with target proteins to develop cancer-fighting drugs. Each machine looks at a few molecules at once, but with almost 400,000 participating computers totaling 24 million research hours, the project is anticipated to be the largest computational chemistry project ever undertaken, according to the United Devices Web site.\nSchool of Instructional Systems Technology graduate student Orneal Brown said he heard about the project from Wilkins. Although Wilkins experienced trouble at first because of high volume on the project Web site, he hasn't experienced any more trouble. \n"It never interferes with any other applications I'm running," he said.\nTHINK uses three-dimensional images of the molecules it screens to look for matches, or hits. Hits are recorded and sent back to the laboratory at Oxford for the next stage of development, and the project keeps track of what computers uncover what information.\nIndividual users can keep track as well with an optional screen saver that shows three-dimensional pictures of which molecules the computer is screening at the time. Users can actually watch the molecule as it goes through a virtual analysis; it is maneuvered into a variety of different positions to see if it will match a target protein site.\nTHINK moves rapidly -- too fast to see every molecule combination -- but the screen saver's interactivity allow the user more access to information specific to his or her computer.\n"The screen saver is definitely more exciting to watch than my normal blank screen," said Charles Morrow, senior network and LAN administrator for IU, and project participant. "When I initially installed the software, I did run into some problems, but all due to congestion on the United Devices' servers. Since then I haven't run into any problems at all."\n"Volunteer Your PC" is available to anyone with Internet access, whether the connection is dial-up or high-speed. When the program is downloaded, all necessary information is stored on the participating computer. Each time the participant connects to the Internet, THINK retrieves a task from the United Devices server. The computer analyzes the molecules while it is idle, whether connected to the Internet or not, and sends the completed task back to the server once the next Internet connection is established.\nThe program takes up two megabytes of hard drive space and transmits information at around 200 kilobytes per second, compared to 5,600 kilobytes during normal Internet surfing. "We're encouraging people not to change their normal usage patterns because of the small amount of space the program needs," Prince said. And if you have a high-speed connection, "you never even know it's there," he said.\nAs an incentive, Intel offers cash and prizes to those who donate the most time, and to those who are just lucky. Daily $100 prizes are given away, monthly drawings for trips and electronics, and they're even giving away a trip to the NBA finals.\nThe project is expected to run for one year, and with almost 400,000 machines doing research after 30 days, and Prince said he is optimistic about the results. "I think it's definitely exceeded all of our wildest expectations. The response we've had from people downloading has been tremendous," Prince said. "And with 16 proteins and over a billion molecules, the possibilities pretty much reach infinity"