Project: Folding@Home

GlobalShaper Team #244721

Folding@Home is probably the easiest way to fight Covid-19 (but it’s quite hard to explain). 

Therefore first how you can help, within 4 simple Steps:

1. Open the Folding@Home Project Website:
2. Download the installer for your system (Win/OSX/Linux)

3. Install and run the program
4. (Optional) If you like you can join our GlobalShapers Team! Just enter our Teamnumber 244721 after the installation. Also you can chose a name if you’d like

That’s it! Your computer will now will help to find a cure against Covid19! Now how does this work?

The Folding@home project is dedicated to novel computational ways to develop new drugs in general. This is done by figuring out how the genome of the corona virus leads to the “evil” proteins, which force the body to build more corona viruses. This works with every virus quite similar: The virus injects its genome (RNA) into the cell. RNA is basically just a manual for a cell to build proteins. If we knew, how these proteins look, it would be much easier to find a drug against them. 

Unfortunately, the so-called folding process is extremely difficult to simulate and even the best computers in the world struggle with this task.
This is where the Folding@Home project steps in. Its network (of which you are part of, if you already installed the program as shown above) forms a super-computer which is faster than every other system in the world. This system allows researchers to figure out the shape of the Covid-19 proteins and forms the basis for new drugs against it. This entire system consists of systems like yours.

So please join us!