I don't know if it's the correct place to post that, but I think it fits better here than in the other two topics.

I've been crunching for R@H for several months and I think it's one of the most interesting (and realistic) projects in BOINC.

The main problem I find is that the proteins that I can see folding in my screensaver (I really like that screensaver) I've got no idea what they are and why are scientists in Rosetta investigating them.

I think it would be really useful and entertaining that the screensaver explained which protein is folding and why is it important, in words that non scientific crunchers (as me) could easy understand. At least it could be better than just seeing something folding...

Thanks for reading, and congratz for the great work done in this project!!

I don't know if it's the correct place to post that, but I think it fits better here than in the other two topics.

I've been crunching for R@H for several months and I think it's one of the most interesting (and realistic) projects in BOINC.

The main problem I find is that the proteins that I can see folding in my screensaver (I really like that screensaver) I've got no idea what they are and why are scientists in Rosetta investigating them.

I think it would be really useful and entertaining that the screensaver explained which protein is folding and why is it important, in words that non scientific crunchers (as me) could easy understand. At least it could be better than just seeing something folding...

Thanks for reading, and congratz for the great work done in this project!!

The problem is that sometimes the folding is being down to find a better 'process' not actually folding something that can cure a disease. If they labeled the ones that were working on a cure, how would they encourage people to crunch the other ones too? Sometimes the process is more important than the actual cure, in the long run.

And I am glad you like the screensaver, just be sure to turn it off when you leave your pc, it slows down the crunching. Do NOT turn Boinc off, just the screensaver. Use the power button on your monitor, it is cheaper and keeps Boinc crunching at full power.

The problem is that sometimes the folding is being down to find a better 'process' not actually folding something that can cure a disease. If they labeled the ones that were working on a cure, how would they encourage people to crunch the other ones too? Sometimes the process is more important than the actual cure, in the long run.

And I am glad you like the screensaver, just be sure to turn it off when you leave your pc, it slows down the crunching. Do NOT turn Boinc off, just the screensaver. Use the power button on your monitor, it is cheaper and keeps Boinc crunching at full power.

I think just a few people (not me) would cancel WU's to find the ones that are trying to find a cure. Furthermore, most of them are between 3 and 5 hours long. Not too much to cancel one "that I don't like". All the WU's are useful; if not, why are they sending them to us?? There's no reason to cancel them. An improvement in the process is probably better than lots of WU's for finding a cure. That's just my opinion. ;)

And yes, I only use the screensaver when I'm in front of my laptop. ;)

That reminds me, if you set the screensaver... say @ 5 min idle. And then set the "power off" monitor @ 10 min. Would the PC keep showing the screensaver after the 10 min? Or is it smart enough to realize nothing is showing on the monitor (since it's off) and thus allow full CPU utilization for the crunching?

And regarding OP, Rosetta is aimed at discovering better and more efficient ways to predict a protein based on it's amino acid sequence (like a programmed excel sheet, you just input the amino acid sequence and in the adjacent cell you will get the 3D structure with accuracy) Rosetta does not fold and fold and fold proteins like Folding@Home does, thus the limited use for a GPU app (correct me if I'm wrong).

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I don't know if it's the correct place to post that, but I think it fits better here than in the other two topics.

I've been crunching for R@H for several months and I think it's one of the most interesting (and realistic) projects in BOINC.

The main problem I find is that the proteins that I can see folding in my screensaver (I really like that screensaver) I've got no idea what they are and why are scientists in Rosetta investigating them.

I think it would be really useful and entertaining that the screensaver explained which protein is folding and why is it important, in words that non scientific crunchers (as me) could easy understand. At least it could be better than just seeing something folding...

Thanks for reading, and congratz for the great work done in this project!!

There is quite a lot of information in the science forums: it's very interesting but its not done systematically for each protein in the way that Folding@home does it. In particular check out this thread Design of protein-protein interfaces, where team members discuss what proteins they are working on and why.

Another source of information comes from the protein name. Most of them will contain a 4-character alphanumeric string bracketed by underscores, something like _1yd0_. Go to the RCSB Protein Data Bank and copy this string into the search field. You'll get a lot of info about the protein (much of it being X-Ray crystallography data and such). Check out their featured molecule section though: that's much more readable.

There is quite a lot of information in the science forums: it's very interesting but its not done systematically for each protein in the way that Folding@home does it. In particular check out this thread Design of protein-protein interfaces, where team members discuss what proteins they are working on and why.

Another source of information comes from the protein name. Most of them will contain a 4-character alphanumeric string bracketed by underscores, something like _1yd0_. Go to the RCSB Protein Data Bank and copy this string into the search field. You'll get a lot of info about the protein (much of it being X-Ray crystallography data and such). Check out their featured molecule section though: that's much more readable.

I usually read information in the forums, and they're interesting. However, I'd like to know what's being folded in my WU.

I've visited the RCSB Protein Data Bank sometimes, but it's quite messy and I don't understand many of the things explained. And sometimes, it doesn't find the alphanumeric string. What's (and where's) the "Featured molecule section"?

There is quite a lot of information in the science forums: it's very interesting but its not done systematically for each protein in the way that Folding@home does it. In particular check out this thread Design of protein-protein interfaces, where team members discuss what proteins they are working on and why.

Another source of information comes from the protein name. Most of them will contain a 4-character alphanumeric string bracketed by underscores, something like _1yd0_. Go to the RCSB Protein Data Bank and copy this string into the search field. You'll get a lot of info about the protein (much of it being X-Ray crystallography data and such). Check out their featured molecule section though: that's much more readable.

I usually read information in the forums, and they're interesting. However, I'd like to know what's being folded in my WU.

I've visited the RCSB Protein Data Bank sometimes, but it's quite messy and I don't understand many of the things explained. And sometimes, it doesn't find the alphanumeric string. What's (and where's) the "Featured molecule section"?

I don't believe you are going to find out specifically what 'you' are crunching. I think they want to keep it more generic so you don't abort everything except what 'you' want to work on. For instance you may have a reason to work on cancer stuff, so anything to do with the flu you would abort and then just keep aborting units until a cancer unit came along. They are definitely against us choosing like that because they want us to crunch what is best for them at this moment in time. The World Community Grid Project does let you do this kind of fine tuning, but most projects do not. Even WCG though only has some units available at any one point in time, they run thru a few million units until whatever they are trying to find right now is done, but they may not have any specific cancer units right now, they may have a ton of flu units instead. They usually run 5 or so projects at one time though, so there are plenty to choose from.

I think Rosetta is more interested in discovering a skeleton key (the 'secrets' of folding), than a specific key to a specific lock (a protein to inhibit a specific disease). I think Rosetta working on a specific problem is more incidental than intentional. Correct me if I'm wrong

That is my understanding too, but doesn't mean it isn't important to finding cures.

I think Rosetta working on a specific problem is more incidental than intentional. Correct me if I'm wrong

Up until recently you would have been correct. However, the Bakerlab team seem to be ramping up the Protein design side of the research following recent successes, so there is an increasing number of design tasks coming through.

Also, following CASP9, the public research server is going to be tied into the BOINC interface, meaning that Rosetta@home crunchers will be working on tasks for different research projects by institutions all over the world.

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