FightAIDS@Home Description

            In our Evolution class at Rockhurst University, taught by Dr. Mindy Walker, we were assigned a grid project. We chose to participate in the FightAIDS@Home project on the World Community Grid, because HIV is a prime example of evolution. The theory of evolution is one of the best proven theories in science, but the trouble is that evolution has been happening for 4.6 billion years. This long time period makes it hard for people to think about how evolution works. When you have 4.6 billion years for things to happen, and we only live 100 years if we are lucky, evolution can be quite astonishing to us. To help us better understand evolution, we chose to participate in the HIV grid project. HIV demonstrates the process of evolution on a smaller time scale, so it is easy to witness it happening. In this case, evolution is a bad thing for us, so studying it more may help researchers find treatments or a cure for AIDS. This is the main reason we chose the HIV project on World Community Grid.

            We have all taken, or are currently taking Microbiology at Rockhurst University. In that class, we learned a lot about viruses, especially the HIV virus. AIDS is a chronic and life threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency disease (HIV). After one has AIDS, his/her immune system becomes compromised and then it is much easier for certain types of infections and cancers to arise in that person. It is one of the most prevalent and adaptable diseases in the world, 60 million have been infected since the epidemic began in 1991. AIDS used to be called "Grid," or gay related immunodeficiency, because Patient Zero in the USA was a gay flight attendant from Canada. After a few years, people learned that it was not a disease that only infected the homosexual population, it could affect anyone.

            The HIV virus is first attacked by the body's immune system, but some of the virus survives. This is because HIV easily mutates and some of the mutations can give the virus an ability to avoid the immune system. Because the virus changes so much, scientists have to look at millions of possibilities of drug binding to HIV. Examining it on a powerful world-wide grid network is the best way to start studying the virus.

            This project is run by the Olson Laboratory and the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. The research is focused on the structural biology of AIDS. They also focus on how HIV is able to survive against current AIDS drugs. When this World Community Grid project is running on your computer, FightAIDS@Home uses a program called "AutoDock." It is able to predict how molecules bind to known 3D structures. Our computer at home uses its memory (RAM), disk storage (SSD), processor and graphics processing unit to run computations for AutoDock. Thus, the researchers can look at how HIV-1 and
HIV-1 protease can complex with different molecules of interest.

Visit the FightAIDS@Home website to learn more!

The Graphics of a current task running on our computer for FightAIDS@Home.

"AutoDock" in Action

Project Status, as of November 26, 2012
Experiment 41: 25% Completed




Experiment 41 involves screening the Enamine library of 2.345 million compounds against the two allosteric sites on the surface of HIV protease. This experiment is similar to Exp. 36, but a different, much larger library of compounds is being screened, and some new targets are being included.

Enamine Library details found here!