Folding PS3s Could Cure Disease

Sony Computer Entertainment and Stanford University today announced that the PlayStation 3 version of Stanford's Folding@home program will be available as a free download for PS3 owners by the end of the March. The project, also available as a free download for personal computers, began in 2000 as a method of distributing the workload of processor-intensive simulations for faster and more efficient calculations. UC Berkeley's SETI@home, released to the public in 1999, operates on a similar principle. "In order to study protein folding, researchers need more than just one super computer, but the massive processing power of thousands of networked computers," explained Masayuki Chatani, corporate execute and chief technology officer at Sony. "Previously PCs have been the only option for scientists, but now they have a new, more powerful tool--PS3." The folding of proteins allows them to change their shape to perform the very basics of biological functionality, so any defect can have devastating implications. By understanding how proteins work, scientists can better interpret what happens when they do not, a process believed to cause diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Mad Cow, cystic fibrosis and numerous cancers. This understanding also brings with it the potential of a cure, such as man-made polymers that could exhibit properties similar to a properly functioning protein. "With PS3 now part of our network, we will be able to address questions previously considered impossible to tackle computationally, with the goal of finding cures to some of the world's most life-threatening diseases," noted Folding@home project lead Vijay Pande. The PS3 version of Folding@home can be run manually or set to execute while the system is idle. The program also displays its progress on-screen, of which Sony has released a few screenshots.