British scientists on Tuesday enlisted the help of thousands of home computer owners in an experiment which they hope will help find new treatments for cancer.
Volunteers can download software over the Internet which, when their personal computer is idle, will get to work screening molecules for anti-cancer activity which could be used in cancer drugs.
The software will exploit the untapped power of the computers to process information on the molecules and send it back to a central server at Oxford University.
The more volunteers taking part, the quicker results will come, according to scientists behind the project.
One computer would take decades to screen the molecules, containing up to 250 million chemicals, but by harnessing the spare capacity of personal computers the world over, the scientists hope to accelerate the task.
Professor Graham Richards, director of the Center for Drug Discovery at Britain's Oxford University, said: "One in four people throughout the world contract some form of cancer, so nearly everyone will have a relative, friend or colleague who has suffered or is suffering from the disease.
"People now have the opportunity to make a positive impact on the disease by donating their unused computer power."
He added that the project "will enable us to accelerate our program of research, and come up with many new molecular candidates that could be developed into cancer drugs."
The software can be downloaded free of charge from www.ud.com -- LONDON (AFP)
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