Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy 2
Knowing the complex interactions between proteins is critical to understanding diseases and developing new therapeutic strategies. Coordinated by Alessandra Carbone from the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris), the HCMD project aims to model the possible interactions between proteins whose three-dimensional structure is known, with particular emphasis on proteins that play a role in neuromuscular diseases.
Started in 2007, on the World Community Grid, the project first launched a preparatory phase calculating the interactions of 336 proteins. This first phase took place in 26 weeks instead of 14 centuries that would be necessary on an average PC. While constituting an important database for researchers in molecular modelling and structural bioinformatics, this phase was also used to optimize the calculation for the second phase. New data on the prediction of interaction sites between proteins have also been integrated to allow to appropriately limit the calculations to the spatial positions of the most favourable proteins.
Phase 2 of HCMD begins now and will thus treat 2280 selected human proteins, whose role in myopathies is not well known, testing them in three-dimension, two by two. On each pair, a protein will be fixed and the second, thanks to computational power, will be tested under different spatial configurations. Dozens of centuries would be needed for these calculations at the level of a personal computer. Sharing calculations between 150000 Internet users in solidarity via the World Community Grid will allow to reduce that period to about one year.
The information obtained will help researchers understand the function of the targeted proteins and to design molecules that could inhibit or enhance the binding of specific molecules. They can then develop new treatments for neuromuscular diseases such as heart and brain diseases affected by these same results.
> Join now to download the Decrypthon application program
Started in 2007, on the World Community Grid, the project first launched a preparatory phase calculating the interactions of 336 proteins. This first phase took place in 26 weeks instead of 14 centuries that would be necessary on an average PC. While constituting an important database for researchers in molecular modelling and structural bioinformatics, this phase was also used to optimize the calculation for the second phase. New data on the prediction of interaction sites between proteins have also been integrated to allow to appropriately limit the calculations to the spatial positions of the most favourable proteins.
Phase 2 of HCMD begins now and will thus treat 2280 selected human proteins, whose role in myopathies is not well known, testing them in three-dimension, two by two. On each pair, a protein will be fixed and the second, thanks to computational power, will be tested under different spatial configurations. Dozens of centuries would be needed for these calculations at the level of a personal computer. Sharing calculations between 150000 Internet users in solidarity via the World Community Grid will allow to reduce that period to about one year.
The information obtained will help researchers understand the function of the targeted proteins and to design molecules that could inhibit or enhance the binding of specific molecules. They can then develop new treatments for neuromuscular diseases such as heart and brain diseases affected by these same results.
> Join now to download the Decrypthon application program
The Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy - phase II project is investigated by the "departement d'Informatique et Génomique Analytique, FRE3214 CNRS UPMC"
