Statistics
Our group’s POEM@Home (Protein Optimization with Energy Methods) grid completed 7248 total units of work throughout the duration of this semester. We noticed that the program began working on a new project about every 3 hours.
This grid was utilized to:
- predict the biologically active structure of proteins
- understand the signal-processing mechanisms when the proteins interact with one another
- understand diseases related to protein malfunction or aggregation
- develop new drugs on the basis of the three-dimensional structure of biologically important proteins
- simulate miscellaneous nanoscale systems, which are of importance for current biological or physical research
Reflection
Our group was extremely grateful to be involved in this service learning project throughout this class. Dr. Walker introduced us to a new side of service. Most students in the past have believed that service is only beneficial if done in the community, but it was interesting to learn that a project of this nature was just a beneficial. Additionally, meeting with a medical professional allowed us to connect our class learning to real world experiences through the informative stories Mrs. Liebergen shared. We are very fortunate to have learned much more about the specifics of this disease and to make essential connections from this grid project to professionals in this field.
By simply downloading and running a program in the background on a computer can help to solve medical mysteries. We hope that in the future, this blog will help others to learn the benefits of grid computing. If more people were willing to help in this way, the opportunities to learn more about protein encoding are endless. By making a slight contribution to the worldwide grid computing effort, scientists are one step closer to learning how to make more effective drugs to combat cystic fibrosis.
