Predictor@Home

SUNY OSWEGO
"BOINC" TEAM

Joining the Predictor@Home Project.

"The human body makes at least 50,000 different proteins, and possibly twice that many.". Most or all of those proteins are created in our cells by our DNA. The ability of our body to create the right proteins at the right time is fundamental to our normal development as a person. When we don't produce the right protein at the right time, the result may be a protein-related disease. Studies show that sickle-cell anemia, for instance, involves genes that create a slightly different protein that most of us produce. The principle goal of Predictor@homeis to address critical biomedical questions of protein-related diseases by attempting to predict protein structure from protein sequence. Participants in this project test and evaluate new algorithms and methods of protein structure prediction. While the project is not specific about the protein-related diseases it is addressing, diseases that are currently thought to be protein related are Alzheimer’s, prion-based diseases (Mad-Cow disease), and some cancers.

Step by Step Instructions for Joining and Running Predictor@Home

  1. If the computer you want to run Predictor@Home on belongs to you, you can skip to step 3.
  2. Not everyone wants to run BOINC or Predictor@Home on their machines. This is particularly true for companies and other organizations who feel obligated to enforce "business use only" rules for computer use. Make sure its OK to run BOINC on the machine you want to install it on before you actually install and run it. Its OK if BOINC doesn't run everywhere.
  3. Read the rules and policies of Predictor@Home. You may also find the project's introduction to how distributed computing works interesting.
  4. If you already run a BOINC client on your machine for another project, skip to step 8.
  5. Download BOINC for your computer from the BOINC site. There are versions that run under Windows, on MacIntosh, on Linux, and on other platforms. Download behavior will probably vary somewhat depending on your browser, so you're more or less on your own to know what to do here.
  6. There shouldn't be a problem if you've downloaded from one of the sites pointed to in step 5 and most virus software will check the download as it happens anyway, but if you are concerned about downloading a virus or other malicious program, now is a good time to check. It is generally presumed that you have anti-virus software installed already, but if you don't, SUNY Oswego students, staff, and faculty can download McAfee antivirus from the Oswego web site.
  7. Install BOINC. The details of how you do this will depend on your system and your browser, so your kind of on your own here, but the usual process involves finding the downloaded program (which will often be on your computers desktop), double clicking on the program to run it, and answering any questions it asks. The last step of the installation will probably start BOINC.
  8. Run BOINC. If BOINC is already running on your system, proceed to Step 9. You can usually tell if its running on Windows systems because a small "B" icon (for Boinc) will show up on the application bar at the bottom right side of the screen. On MacIntosh, the same icon will usually appear near the top right corner of the screen.
  9. Join Predictor@Home by going to the the SUNY Oswego team page on Predictor@Home and selecting the team entry that at "Create team account URL." Here's a shortcut to that page. You'll need to fill in an online form with your name, e-mail address, a password, country affiliation, and zip code. Pick a user id and password that is easy to remember or save the information somewhere. You may to print out the next page or save it somewhere. You will receive a confirmation e-mail at the e-mail address you provide. Print and/or save this e-mail. You may, in particular, have a need for the key it provides.
  10. Add Predictor@Home to your running BOINC client. To do this, select "Projects" from on the menu bar, then select "Attach to Project" from the drop down. You'll first be asked for a project URL. Enter "http://setiathome.berkeley.edu". You'll then be prompted for either your Predictor@Home userid and password or your account key. Once you enter this informatoin your BOINC client should immediately contact Predictor@Home, download a work unit, and start working on it. It may be that, for one reason or another, Predictor@Home can't give you a work unit immediately. If it can't, BOINC will keep trying automatically until it gets a work unit. So long as it is trying, you've joined "Predictor@Home".

If you get to here, you should be running Predictor@Home under BOINC.

Note that you can run more than one project on your computer. This can be a good idea. BOINC projects occasionally stop sending out work units for short periods of time (sometimes as long as a day or two). If you are running another project your machine probably won't be idle while it waits for its next unit of work.