(New Hartford, NY – June 6, 2013) Site-Seeker Inc., a provider of Internet marketing solutions, is participating in a virtual program called Folding@home that allows businesses to donate their CPU during downtime to scientists at Stanford University performing research on cancer, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, AIDS, and other terminal diseases.
The name of the project, Folding@home, derives from human proteins that “fold” when breaking down food or performing other bodily processes. When the proteins do not fold properly, there can be serious health problems. By understanding misfolding, scientists can develop medications or treatments to combat the issues, and prevent or fight off illnesses.
The project borrows CPU from those who donate to run tests and experiments. By utilizing these shared computers, Stanford University avoids having to purchase large data centers that could cost millions, or even billions, of dollars. There are currently 320,000 participants in the Folding@home project, including Fortune 500 companies like Google, Intel and Apple. To date, Site-Seeker has accumulated more than 100,000 points in the program, a measurement they use to calculate donations. They are in the top 8% of the teams participating.
“Non-profit donations do not always have to be measured in monetary values,” said Carl Pfranger, Internet marketing evangelist at Site-Seeker Inc. “The beautiful thing about this project is that anyone can participate. We aren’t soliciting our staff for dollars that they may not have. Instead, we simply encourage them to sign up and offer their computer power during downtime and overnight. It’s a great way for us all to support a wonderful cause through the resources we have.”
Folding@home is free to join and only involves a simple download that gives the scientists permission to access a computer’s CPU. One can select four different levels of power, depending on how much energy one wants to contribute.
For more information, visit folding.stanford.edu.