Folding Forum

What is the difference between Folding@home and Rosetta@home as well as World Community Grid. They all seem to folding. I am starting to notice a TON of these folding projects. I also noticed one that send you radio signals for you to analyze for SETI.

Which is the best? (i know that this is opinion but its Rosetta@home of WCG better than Folding@home because i am considering having my Schools using F@H so i want the best one...F@H, R@H, or WCG)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_di ... ibuted.net <--------- that is a lot

Some of the differences in projects are subjective, some are not. Some projects benefit science in general, but the results go to private companies to develop drugs. In the long run, the patients do benefit, but at the cost of making the company's shareholders richer. Some projects benefit science, and share the information openly with everyone, which is what F@H does.

The differences in folding projects were posted in the previous version of this forum. I will see if I can dig that up for you...

Folding@home is working to understand the mechanism of protein folding, not predict protein structures for possible drug developments. By understanding, I mean that F@h works to model how proteins work, or how they break which causes some of the diseases mentioned in the FAQ pages on the F@h project web page. F@h develops new ways to simulate protein folding very accuarately, and has won awards for it's accuracy in simulating actual protein structures. And by comparison, F@h studies the whole pie of how proteins function, not just a slice of the pie like other projects.

F@h was recently recognized by Guiness World Records as the most computationally powerful distributing project, and we would welcome you added contribution.

Here is a comment I found from the F@h project lead...

Vijay Pande wrote:...Rosetta and Folding@Home are addressing very different problems.

Rosetta only predicts the final folded state, not how do proteins fold (and Rosetta has nothing to do with protein misfolding). Thus, those methods are not useful for the questions we're interested in and the diseases we're tackling (Alzheimer's Disease and other aggregation related diseases).

...both are valuable projects IMHO, but addressing very different questions. I think there are some misunderstandings out there, though. Some people think FAH is all about structure prediction (which it is not -- that's Rosetta's strength) and some think Rosetta is about misfolding related disease (which it's not, that's Folding@Home's strength). Hopefully this post helps straighten some of that out.

ruth wrote:What is the difference between Folding@home and Rosetta@home as well as World Community Grid. They all seem to folding. I am starting to notice a TON of these folding projects. I also noticed one that send you radio signals for you to analyze for SETI.

Which is the best? (i know that this is opinion but its Rosetta@home of WCG better than Folding@home because i am considering having my Schools using F@H so i want the best one...F@H, R@H, or WCG)

It's kind of hard to say "what's best" -- but F@H is the one that does the most science...

When I found Vijay's post, I forgot to add...

Whether you want to help search for treatments or a cure to diseases that loved ones have or might get, or to look for aliens, or to study mathematical questions, you should try to find a project that interests you. You will stick with the project, want to learn more about it, and enjoy it much more in the long run.

Technically SETI isnt folding. It is analysing radio waves looking for signal patterns that could be deemed interesting (or maybe an extra-terrestrial signal).

At its base it is still a distributed computing like F@H, Rosetta and Grid, just a different application of the power.

Then there is the results bit that 7im mentioned. Are you happy lining someone elses pockets at your expense, or do you believe information should be public domain and open to all?

It is your choice in the end.

ruth wrote:........Which is the best? ......

The bigger question as 7im hinted at, is.... "What is Best for YOU"

Here's my .02/.03 and MHO:
I have had 3 people in my immediate family diagnosed with Alzheimer....
I lost my Dad 6 years after being diagnosed with it
another close family member died after 9 years fighting the disease
the last one was diagnosed 10 years ago and is now in a vegetable state ... has been for 3 years
he, used to weigh 90 plus Kilos before and now weighs a mere 40 Kilos (180 cm tall) or from about 185lbs down to about 90 lbs at 5'10''
his family cares for him at nights and takes turns, a day nurse cares for him during the day
his oldest daughter gives him a bath 2 times a week, and literally trims the skin off his back with medial? scissors (His skin on his back shreds from laying down 24/7)

So, for me this project hits home and hits very close to my heart.
I have decided to continue this project as long as I can, and have recruited almost all my friends, family and coworkers to do the same.

ruth, again, ask yourself the question: "What is Best for ME?"
and follow your heart and mind.

Peace & Happy Holidays

I am going to stick to Folding@home.

Will Folding@home come up with cures for diseases? (at some point)

ruth wrote:I am going to stick to Folding@home.

Will Folding@home come up with cures for diseases? (at some point)

Not directly, no. Folding@home is doing the basic (meaning fundamental initial) research to find out why and how proteins fold/misfold as they do. As this becomes better understood, the results can then potentially be used to create cures for diseases.