| The Smallpox Protection Project | |||||
News The first stage in finding a treatment for smallpox, a potential threat as a potent weapon of bioterror, is complete. Professor Graham Richards, Chairman of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, together with research and industry partners, will deliver the results of the Smallpox Research Grid project to representatives from the United States Department of Defense today [Tuesday 30 September]. The smallpox grid project, which was launched in February this year, made use of idle times of home computers around the world in order to find a drug to combat the effects of the smallpox virus after infection. Volunteers from over 190 countries contributed over 39,000 years of computing time in less than six months. The virus packs its DNA in a tightly coiled form to make it small enough for transport, but needs the enzyme to unwind again in order to replicate. If a molecule can be found to block the enzyme, the virus will not be able to replicate, and the spread of the disease can be halted. The project screened 35 million potential drug molecules against eight models of the smallpox protein to determine if any of the drug-like molecules would bind to the smallpox protein, rendering it inactivated. Preliminary results have dramatically narrowed the field of molecules that can be considered lead candidates for the next phase of research. Professor Richards said: 'This represents massive progress in thwarting the threat of smallpox but also a significant opportunity for all life science research. This resource has the potential to find leads against both bioterror and disease agents in a fraction of the time science is accustomed to. 'The smallpox project could also have implications for cancer therapy, as some cancers also have their DNA supercoiled, which means that an enzyme blocker could potentially be used to slow cancer replication and growth.' Tom Hawk, General Manager at Grid Computing, IBM, said: 'The results of the Smallpox Research Grid are a dramatic illustration of the power of Grid computing to harness the world's computing resources to improve the lives of people around the globe. IBM believes the potential of Grid computing to address similar grand scale research projects is unlimited.' 5th February 2003 - The smallpox protection project is launched. Press Release. The Smallpox Protection Project The threat posed by smallpox as a weapon of bioterror is widely perceived. Vaccination of huge numbers of people has many drawbacks such as a delay in efficacy and a percentage of damaging side effects. A drug to combat the effects of exposure to smallpox has many attractions. The universally acclaimed screen saver project involving the collaboration between United Devices Inc and Oxford University's Chemistry department has demonstrated how massively distributed grid computing using the idle time on PCs around the world can be harnessed to screen many millions of molecules as potential drugs. The on-going project to discover anti-cancer drugs and the effort in the spring of 2002 to find drugs to block anthrax have demonstrated how grid computing can produce drug candidates in a very short time when utilizing the 2 million PCs which now make up the user community. Now this combination with the generous support of IBM and new partners is launching a similar project to seek drug candidates for smallpox protection. Screen saver time will be used to find small molecules which inhibit a key enzyme used by the virus to unpack its DNA. The target enzyme [topoisomerase] has a form present in all human cells where it is a target for anti-cancer drugs and the project will investigate both the virus and the normal targets. New partners are Evotech OAI, the European biotechnology company who have prepared the input information on the protein target and Oxford University is being assisted by colleagues at Essex University who are part of Oxford's virtual research group, the NFCR Center for Computational Drug Design.The software used to estimate just how well a given molecule binds to the target, and hence just how good a drug it might prove has been provided by Accelrys Inc, its Ligandfit program, while smallpox expertise has been furnished by Drs Grant McFadden and Stuart Schuman. Scientific coordinator Graham Richards of Oxford says "Nothing could be more appropriate in seeking protection against a universal threat than to engage ordinary people across the world in a coordinated effort to discover a drug which would render smallpox impotent"
|
Intellectual Property Statement
|
||||