Fold4Science is a scientific project aimed at supporting Stanford University in the United States in the Folding@home project. It task is to look for cures for Cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, BSE and many other diseases. The project investigates proteins folding processes, focusing on how a protein molecule folds in space because the functions it can perform in the body depend on its shape. During the project, scientists discover also previously unknown secrets of molecular biology and genetics, which have a significant impact on the development of medical sciences.

The entire project is based on distributed computing, i.e. calculations that enable the sharing of geographically dispersed computing resources.

Project operation diagram:


- These calculations are based on the client-server model
- The user installs software (client) that downloads data (so-called Work Unit - WU) from the Stanford University server for processing (approx. 1-2 MB)
- Processing data on the participant's computer in the background with the lowest possible priority using unused CPU resources
- Processing the WU takes from several to several dozen hours - the computer may be turned off
- After processing the data, the client automatically sends the results of the calculations to the server, and then downloads further data from the server for processing
- After properly configuring the options, you can forget about the program at all, because its operation is unnoticeable to us
- After calculating each WU, the participant and team/country receive ranking points for the project classification

In short - each participant is part of a supercomputer distributed around the world working for science and finding drugs for the most dangerous diseases.