In 2001, New York Habitat made the decision to utilize the resources necessary to operate a multi-city apartment rental service to assist a greater cause. New York Habitat & Cancer Research: Philanthropy meets Biology! discusses those efforts to aid in a project geared towards cancer research.
The project, which involved the combined work of Oxford University, The National Foundation for Cancer Research, and United Devices, aimed to make advancements in the discovery of a cancer pharmaceutical through the use of grid computing.
While several supercomputers could have completed the preliminary research necessary to begin laboratory work on a cancer pharmaceutical, the task would have literally taken a lifetime. However, with the combined energy of millions of individual computers all over the world, the project can be completed in years.
As of April 27, 2007, the research finally came to a close. Grid computing, or distributing computing as it is also called, helped to narrow down the number of molecules that will elicit the desired drug-like reaction once united with a given number of researched proteins.
At the time of the program’s conclusion, over 3 million computers were being utilized all over the world, all of which combined to contribute 210 years of computer time daily. Out of this abundant amount of computer resources, New York Habitat is ranked 180th of overall contributed processor-time. Through the course of the project, we were able to provide 78 years of valuable research!
“We are very proud of our contribution to this project,” said Francois Roux, vice president of New York Habitat. “To be able to use our technology to help with cancer research was gratifying for us as a company and for me personally. I am really looking forward to a new project.”
Now that the project has reached its conclusion, New York Habitat is looking for another worthwhile endeavor in which to participate. We strongly encourage you to send information concerning any organizations, projects, and groups that wish to aid humanity for the better.
I must say I am impressed that a real estate company gets involved in a project like this. When you next find a project like this, I’d like to contribute, too. I’ll watch out for such projects.