Your computer can help scientists fight COVID-19

Anyone in the world with a PC, Mac or laptop with an internet connection can help scientists seek chemical compounds that might be effective against COVID-19, according to IBM.

To do so, volunteers’ devices will perform small, virtual experiments to identify chemical compounds, including those in existing medicines, that could potentially be used as treatment candidates for COVID-19. Compounds that show promise for treating COVID-19 will undergo further testing and analysis.

The project, called ‘OpenPandemics - COVID-19’ and led by Scripps Research, is being hosted on IBM’s World Community Grid — a crowdsourced computing resource provided at no charge for scientists. Volunteers download an app that works when their devices are otherwise idle or in light use. Operating unobtrusively in the background without slowing users’ systems, the app distributes computational assignments and returns completed calculations to researchers, all via the IBM cloud.

With the World Community Grid crowdsourcing power from thousands of computing devices, the project will easily be able to perform hundreds of millions of calculations needed for simulations. This could potentially help scientists accelerate the drug discovery or drug repurposing process, traditionally performed more slowly in a traditional ‘wet’ laboratory. As with all World Community Grid projects, data generated by this effort will be made publicly available.

“IBM’s World Community Grid is a resource that not only empowers scientists to accelerate vital work on a large scale, but also gives volunteers a sense of empowerment, joining with others all over the globe to make a difference,” said Guillermo Miranda, VP and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at IBM. “During a time of social distancing and isolation, this sense of purpose and interconnectedness is as important as ever.”

The process is automatic, so volunteers do not need any special technical expertise to participate, as the process is automatic, and the software cannot access personal or business files. And while the project will initially focus on COVID-19, Scripps Research also plans to develop tools and methods to allow future drug discovery projects to ramp up quickly, such as during other pandemics.

“Scripps Research is grateful to IBM for hosting our project on World Community Grid,” said Stefano Forli, Assistant Professor at Scripps Research and Director of the project. “Tapping the unused processing power on thousands of idle computing devices provides us with an incredible amount of computing power to virtually screen millions of chemical compounds. Our joint effort with volunteers all over the world promises to accelerate our search for new, potential drug candidates that address present and future emerging biological threats, whether it is COVID-19 or an entirely different pathogen.”

To sign up to the project, click here.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/georgejmclittle

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