RENDER UNTO GOD

By AzaToth - self made based on PDB entry, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68596.

Hold on to your hats here: sometimes I feel like the Episcopal Church leaves some mission opportunities on the table, particularly in the digital arena. There are problems our world faces which no amount of early-morning breakfasts or clothing drives can solve, as critical as those forms of ministry are. 

These problems that seem out of reach of the current scope of our church are not new or groundbreaking. Disease is one of the most daunting challenges we face that the church is (seemingly) powerless to fight. Sure, we can visit the infirm, erase medical debt, and even instill in our congregants that wearing a mask and socially distancing is a moral responsibility, but what about attacking the root of the problems as well? Can the average parishioner cure disease? You’d be surprised. 

Conventional wisdom offers us two methods of fighting disease: raising awareness or raising money. Both of these are critical tools. That said, what if I told you there was a more direct way to aid in these challenges that requires little more than the click of a button? A way which doesn’t require a doctor’s knowledge or bank account?

Disease research doesn’t just require brilliant people (though it certainly helps). It also requires computer processing muscle. Medical research in the 21st century requires countless simulations of microscopic proteins which make up the bulk of biological processes we rely on to do everything from breathe to eat ice cream. These proteins perform their tasks by literally folding into what scientists call their “native conformation.”

Basically, if a protein is folding the way it should, a biological process like metabolizing food or targeting foreign antigens for destruction works like a charm. However, sometimes these proteins don’t fold correctly. That leads to some pretty bad outcomes, including diseases like cancer or COVID-19. For example, misfolding proteins which aggregate in the brain may be responsible for Alzheimer’s.

If we can understand how and why a protein folds the way it does, we have a greater chance at understanding how we might correct or prevent misfolding of critical proteins.

Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Just do a simulation, yell “enhance!” at the monitor a few times, and bam! Cancer cured! Unfortunately, proteins can fold in an almost infinite number of ways. Here’s an example:

(ed. note: take a look at the above image first before reading the rest of the article)

How many different ways do you think you could fold this thing? A ton, right? And this is just one protein. Medical research employs vast supercomputers for the sole purpose of running simulations on these little dudes. Here’s the problem: those supercomputers are expensive, and there aren’t enough processing cycles to go around. 

The Folding at Home Consortium (FAHC) recognized this issue and created software that enables everyday home computers to participate in distributed computing. In layman’s terms, the world’s biggest supercomputer is actually just an enormous amount of old laptops taped together, much like how your body is made up of these foldy bois. 

With Folding@Home, anybody with a computer can materially contribute to this research. All you have to do is install the program, pick your preferred settings, and off it goes in the background, automatically selecting available projects and crunching numbers. The software does an excellent job at using every last bit of your CPU (and graphics card, if you’ve got one) for simulation. Even better, these processes are usually set to a lower priority than your other applications, so you likely won’t feel any significant performance loss. If you do, however, you can set the program to run only when the computer is idle.

FAHC runs a statistical leaderboard of contributed simulations in the form of easy to understand points. Even neater, they also support the creation of teams, so you and your friends can go for the sweet, sweet bragging rights by aggregating your points towards fighting disease. 

If you want to try out this software, follow this link to download. You can choose to make an account, or you can just run simulations anonymously. However, only those with an account can join a team. Should you decide to participate, I suggest joining Earth & Altar’s team (code number 1060818).

This software comes with the endorsement of many prominent tech companies, including Microsoft, Cisco, and Intel. It’s the real deal, and I hope you will join me in folding at home to fight some disease. After all, what would Jesus do in between gaming sessions?