Zika, like Ebola, dengue, tuberculosis and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, is among the major public health problems that threaten us globally. To prevent greater tragedy will require collaboration across the usual geographic and institutional boundaries, as we saw with SARS and Ebola.
Image via IBM
Individuals can help, initially by contributing their computer's idle power to the OpenZika project running on IBM's World Community Grid, a virtual, crowdsourced supercomputer. A free app can be downloaded here, which will automatically provide the unused computing power on volunteers' computers (Mac or PC) or Android devices to researchers. IBM reports that “in the first two months of the study, more than 50,000 volunteers from all over the world have enrolled and donated the equivalent of over 4,000 years of computing time and performed more than 20,000 virtual experiments, saving researchers $1.5 million in equivalent computing resources.”
The World Community Grid uses BOINC, Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing, which is a National Science Foundation-funded project. One of the advantages is that any project can use this computing client, and all the research is on open platforms that can be readily shared. Data is also openly accessible. Alan Aspuru-Guzik, professor of chemistry at Harvard, explained to ITWorld that “by distributing the computations among thousands of volunteered computers, the project could be completed in just two years, compared to about 20 years using a supercomputer.”
Stanley Litow, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs at IBM, gave me insight into how the collaborations work to benefit partners. His initial premise is: “Do we have the ability, when we mobilize our talent…to address societal problems?”
In this case, the World Community Grid “allows researchers to put money into their research…not into the computing” infrastructure, Litow explained. Learning from disaster relief efforts, IBM’s approach is to “make people dealing with crisis more effective in what they do.”
For example, IBM will work with Fiocruz analyzing Portuguese-language Twitter postings referring to Zika, dengue and Chikungunya, as well as the presence of the Aedes aegypti mosquito responsible for most of these arboviral infections. While IBM’s computer network can crunch the data, it requires teamwork with local people on the ground to guide what to look for. IBM's Research Lab in Brazil will then analyze and interpret the data and make recommendations to public health officials.
IBM researchers will also will train Fiocruz scientists to use STEM (Spatiotemporal Epidemiological Modeler). This is open source software that IBM developed and donated to the Eclipse Foundation. The software models and helps predict and visualize the spread of infectious diseases. A visual explainer of STEM is here.
To fight Zika now, IBM is donating a one-year subscription feed of highly local data from The Weather Company, an IBM business, to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. "Over 20,000 of these weather-related data points spread across Brazil can provide daily information used to help estimate the [Aedes aegypti] larvae's proliferation,” which is affected by humidity, rainfall and temperature. This will hopefully enable UNICEF and public health officials to more effectively mobilize resources to target their mosquito control and other interventions.
The Impact Grant provides pro bono access to teams of experienced researchers at IBM. In return, the IBM staff gains important in-field experience.
While this OpenZika project is recent, the World Community Grid has supported 27 research projects, including treatments for dengue, HIV/AIDS, neglected tropical diseases and cancer, as well as nonmedical applications. There have been a number of success stories and publications in peer-reviewed literature.
I raised concerns about sharing my computer, since we are almost inseparable. The BOINC software monitors your computer so as not to slow it down. It won’t drain your battery, as it only works when connected to power. It also won’t use up your mobile data, as it only works over a wireless network. Software does not access your personal files.
Litow is enthusiastic about the crowd-sourcing network and is hopeful that it will not only be “one that engages the public in solving problems” but will transform how they think. Individuals can track their contributions and all the data is open source.
Anyone can volunteer to help scientists track infections and look for effective treatments for Zika, TB and other scourges. Please help—and invite your friends, too.
(Images courtesy IBM)
