IBM Applies Cloud, Watson, Research to Combat Zika Virus
May 24, 2016
Grazed from eWeek. Author: Darryl K. Taft.
IBM is applying the strength of its cloud computing platform and its extensive research organization to help combat the Zika virus. Big Blue’s World Community Grid has launched an international study to identify drug candidates to cure Zika, a fast spreading virus that the World Health Organization has declared a global public health emergency.
Known as the OpenZika project, the new initiative will run on the World Community Grid to identify drug candidates to treat the Zika virus in people who have been infected. The project will target proteins that the Zika virus likely uses to survive and spread in the body, based on what is known from similar diseases, such as dengue virus and yellow fever…
"Currently, there is no treatment for the Zika virus and no vaccine," said Dr. Carolina Horta Andrade, principal investigator for OpenZika, in a blog post about the project. "Given that Zika has quickly become an international public health concern, my team and I are working with researchers here in Brazil as well as in the United States to look for possible treatments, and we are using World Community Grid to accelerate our project."…
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