Sony's PS3 not only entertains but also cures cancer

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) on Thursday announced that it will let PlayStation 3 users run Stanford University's Folding@home program, a distributed computing project aimed at understanding protein folding, misfolding and related diseases, on their consoles, helping establish the causes of Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis and many cancers.

The popular distributed computing application from Stanford University will likely be available by the end of this month as a 200MB download through Firmware 1.6. It will be launched in conjunction with the European launch of the console.

"Millions of users have experienced the power of PS3 entertainment. Now they can utilize that exceptional computing power to help fight diseases," said Masayuki Chatani, Corporate Executive and CTO Computer, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. "In order to study protein folding, researchers need more than just one super computer, but the massive processing power of thousands of networked computers. Previously, PCs have been the only option for scientists, but now, they have a new, more powerful tool -- PS3."

Folding@home program uses the downtime of several thousands of internet-connected computers volunteered for the project by their owners to process computationally-intensive simulations concerning protein-folding, misfolding and related diseases.

Since these simulations can take up to 30 years for a single computer to complete, Folding@home enables this task to be shared among thousands of computers connected via the network, utilizing distributed computing technology, thus saving a lot of time.

Once the data is processed, the information is sent back to the central computer via Internet.

According to Sony, the PlayStation 3 could help save even more as Cell/B.E. processor inside each PS3 is about 10 times faster than a conventional PC chip, and so can perform simulations that much faster.

"We're thrilled to have SCE be part of the Folding@home project," said Vijay Pande, Associate Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University and Folding@home project lead. "With PS3 now part of our network, we will be able to address questions previously considered impossible to tackle computationally, with the goal of finding cures to some of the world's most life-threatening diseases."

The Folding@home icon will be added to the next update of Sony's XMB (Cross MediaBar) user interface due March 23rd. PS3 users can just click on the icon to start running the program or they can set their console to run the application whenever it is idle.

Adding Folding@home to the PS3 is Sony’s first step in applying the PlayStation 3 to distributed computing projects. Sony further hopes to contribute to the advancement of science by supporting distributed computing projects in a wide variety of academic fields such as medical, social sciences, and environmental projects throughout the use of PS3.

Launched on Oct. 1, 2000, Folding@home also known as FAH or F@H is a distributed computing project designed to perform computationally intensive simulations of protein folding and other molecular dynamics simulations.

Currently managed by the Pande Group, within Stanford University's Chemistry department, under the supervision of Professor Vijay S. Pande, Folding@home is one of the largest distributed computing projects with the goal "to understand protein folding, misfolding, and related diseases."