The UNBC computer club has organized a community computing event which helps to unlock the mysteries of the human protein.

     It might sound like something your mother might say, but folding could one day save your life.

     Protein folding is the process that a protein undergoes before it can perform its specific task. This method of self-assembly is not fully understood. Moreover, less is understood about the the implications of a faulty fold. Misfolding can lead to some serious diseases.

     Eric Chlebek has organized the Folding@Home program for anyone to participate in. Hopefully through a combined computer effort the protein folding can be more understood.

     “This was an idea that I promoted at our annual general meeting a while back,” says Eric Chlebek. “The board liked the idea and I was put in charge of the project. It is a totally voluntary pet project.”

     The setup is very similar to the SETI@Home project of a few years ago. The idea is that there is an abundance of unprocessed data about proteins. Units of data can be sent out to personal computers for them to process and analyze the data. The more computers that are linked, the more analyzing can be done.

     The project actually originated at Stanford University. Stanford is where the analyzed data is sent. UNBC is among many participants who believe in the cause of understanding and preventing diseases such as Alzcheimers and Huntingtons.

     Folding@Home has already made a lot of progress. The p53 tumor suppressor has been studied and as a result a higher understanding of the mutations involved in cancer has developed which will potentially lead to new treatments.

     “I'm not a biologist” says Chlebek, “but I think it is obvious the program is generating results.”

     The web site to visit is http://acorn.no-ip.org/folding. The site will give you all the relevant information, a means to download the program and a full list of succcesses the program has achieved.

     “I would very much like to see this project become a long standing tradition at UNBC, especially amongst people in the sciences,” says Eric.

     The only thing the Folding team needs now is support so if you're inclined to participate just visit the website and find out how you can help.