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PS3 Update Ends Folding@Home

by Jim Reilly on Oct 22, 2012 at 07:00 AM

A new system update for PlayStation 3 hitting tomorrow marks the end of the Folding@home application. Additionally, trophies earned on PlayStation Vita appear on PlayStation 3.

Folding@home saw 15 million people participated in the program since launching in 2007. Sony says PS3 users donated in total more than 100 million computation hours to the Folding@home project and contributing greatly to Stanford University’s Alzheimer ’s disease research.

Below is Stanford University's statement on the closing of Folding@home:

The PS3 system was a game changer for Folding@home, as it opened the door for new methods and new processors, eventually also leading to the use of GPUs. We have had numerous successes in recent years. Specifically, in a paper just published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, we report on tests of predictions from earlier Folding@home simulations, and how these predictions have led to a new strategy to fight Alzheimer’s disease.

The next steps, now underway at Stanford, are to take this lead compound and help push it towards a viable drug. It’s too early to report on our preliminary results there, but I’m very excited that the directions set out in this paper do appear to be bearing fruit in terms of a viable drug (not just a drug candidate).

[Source: PlayStation Blog]