Distributed Computing project to fight anthrax (smallpox and other bad stuff too)

[Chipster22]

Anyone hear of this one?

Sengent Drug Design Optimization Lab (DDOL)

What I know:

1. They have a $25,000 prize for the best lead for an anti-antrax drug
2. They are a comercial company
3. The client is a rather large download of 8.74MB

What I don't know:

1. How the client runs (see #3 above and pity my poor 28.8 connection trying to choke it down)
2. If any stats are available


It sounds sorta interesting to me, but it would have to be pretty good for me to quit ECCP.

 

[Chipster22]

I am trying the D2OL client now and it seems to be running ok.

I found the FAQ here which answers many questions such as:

The D2OL client will download 24-36 hours of work so people with modem or non-permenant connections are ok.

They are still working on statistics for individuals are are evaluating whether to add team stats.

A work unit is supposed to take about 2 hours on at P3/1Ghz or 3 hours if you have the pretty graphics running.



I'll run it a while longer to see what happens and then switch back to ECCp at least for now since there are no stats yet.

 

[XL]

Sounds like it could be an interesting project. The 25k don't sound bad either.

 

[XL]

I downloaded the software. I looks rather cool. Makes you feel like your in a lab.

 

[OhioDude]

Yes, it does look pretty cool.

I'll let it run for a while and see what it does to my Seti performance.

 

[Tarca]

I just started it on a PC also. Will see how it works.

 

[ViRGE]

Humm, it's definately interesting to say the least. While on the one hand, it's doing more than finding an antibiotic that'll kill Anthrax(we have something to do that, Cipro), it also searches for agents that will neutralize bacteria-generated toxins, which really seems to be the strong point(I'm no biologist; does Anthrax even generate toxins?). However, they mention "Anthrax and other potential biological weapons...", which leads me to believe you wouldn't just be searching against Anthrax, but just about any other bacteria out there too; which is one of those "blah" things in my opinion, since it would be possible you wouldn't be searching for the Anthrax antibiotic at any given point in time. At the very least though, it'll be interesting to see how this progresses; it's a commerical application where most other DC projects have been non-commercial, and there seems to be a lack of stats, but the threat of Anthrax might be enough to get people to flock to this like when SETI@Home was released. We may be looking at the edge of the next stage here guys...

 

[Fingers]

Well, I just gave it a quick look and it apears to be the same priority as seti. I would love to install this side by side with seti, but not while i'm in a race.

 

[XL]

Right now my client is working on Smallpox. This sounds good though


<< We are currently working on deploying a number of web based statistics to highlight the best structures that have been found for each Target, total candidates evaluated, and individual node contributions to the project. In addition we are evaluating the creation of Teams amongst community members. You will find statistics navigation links from our homepage once they go live. >>


Definitly could be the next big project. We'll find out. So far I like what I read about it.

This is also an eye opener


<< The realistic threat of biological weapons and bioterrorism increases the urgency in advancing rapid drug discovery technology. Bacterial pathogens selected or bred as biological weapons kill in different ways and range from bacterial strains designed in a laboratory to be resistant to known antibiotics to toxin producing bacterial pathogens. These pathogens can bind to human cells and inject a life-threatening toxin. NO MEDICINES EXIST TODAY CAPABLE OF KILLING THE TOXINS PRODUCED. >>





Chipster22

You might want to add Smallpox and or Bioterrorism in your thread title. Just a thought.

 

[Chipster22]

I should have mentioned that the client works on other pathogens besides anthrax. Its not something they are trying to hide. The anthrax just caught my attention and seems to be their main goal.

 

[XL]

you beat me to my edit. LOL!

I also noticed that running DDOL has no effect on how fast I run ECCp. That's good!!

 

[randy48]

I emailed them and asked a few questions. They claim to be testing the stats tonight! I posted the two replies I got from them Here

 

[IsOs]

I installed it. It notified me that there were some errors in the installation/registration. It seems to be running but I haven't received anything regarding the registration. Is there somekind of confirmation that the email registration was successful?

My tasks manager in Windows 2000 only shows about 3 percent cpu time on a dual Athlon 1.4GHz concurrently running SETI Driver at low priority.

Am I doing something wrong?

 

[IsOs]

One more thing. The screen says Smallpox.

 

[Sloth]

The client does not appear to take take advantage of multiple CPU systems. On boot it was only using 50% resources. I have not tried running two instances of the client yet.


S.

 

[Tarca]

I've had this running for a day and it does not seem to slow seti down much!

 

[XL]

Here's a copy of email I recieved



<< Thank you for your interest and support. Since our primary interest was getting our scientific effort and next generation distributed technology out executing against a real cause quickly, we were forced to make teams and stats a second priority. We see significant value in both of these items and are currently doing final testing on stats and final development on teams. >>



Sounds good to me.

 

[Fingers]

under win 98, when I open a task manager with seti at normal priority seti get 55% cpu usage and something called JAVAW.EXE gets 35%. when I close the client JAVAW.EXE disapears. I assume thats part of the client taking away my resources. Like other people have said the D2OL.EXE is getting around 3%. Isos check that EXE out and see how much CPU utilization it's getting.