World Community Grid is becoming part of Krembil Research Institute, a leading scientific research institution in Toronto, Canada. Krembil Research Institute is part of the University Health Network, which is North America's largest hospital research network, and affiliated with University of Toronto, one of the world's top public universities. And just as importantly, it's the professional home of Dr. Igor Jurisica, Senior Scientist at Krembil, Professor at University of Toronto, and longtime World Community Grid collaborator. Dr. Jurisica will lead World Community Grid as it moves to its next chapter.
IBM created World Community Grid in 2004 as a proof-of-concept for distributed (or grid) computing. During its years with IBM, the program built a global volunteer base and became a significant source of computing power for humanitarian scientific research. And now, Krembil Research Institute will continue expanding the program.
Current research projects will continue
World Community Grid is currently running four active research projects (plus one project that is paused). We plan to continue running these projects, and we hope that you will continue to donate computing power to study cancer, tuberculosis, COVID-19, and rainfall patterns in sub-Saharan Africa, in addition to new research themes we plan to launch soon, once we fully transition the operation of the grid.
"The OpenPandemics - COVID-19 team is excited at the news that Krembil Research Institute will be managing World Community Grid. We anticipate to continue working together with Dr. Jurisica to keep our volunteers engaged in looking for potential drug candidates against COVID-19."
Stefano Forli, PhD
Assistant Professor, Scripps Research
Principal Investigator, OpenPandemics - COVID-19
Data privacy and security standards will remain high
World Community Grid has always put privacy and security first, and while our hosting organization is changing, our commitment to security and data privacy remains the same.
- We request volunteer email addresses when you join World Community Grid. (Among other things, this allows us to communicate with you.) We will never sell or give away this information.
- We implement stringent security procedures at every level of our platform.
- We follow strict privacy standards as outlined by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). For example, your data will not be shown in the World Community Grid forum unless you choose to override the program’s default settings.
Transition begins
We'll soon begin transferring World Community Grid assets and operation from IBM to Krembil Research Institute. We'll keep everyone informed as the transfer progresses over the coming months, including notifying you of a temporary outage if we need to pause sending and receiving work units while moving to a new server.
Additionally, we’re transferring knowledge about World Community Grid's projects and practices to the team at Krembil Research Institute. Through the Mapping Cancer Markers and Help Conquer Cancer projects, Dr. Jurisica and his team are already familiar with the power of World Community Grid. They are excited to learn even more about its inner workings and to embrace the power of citizen science. With the transfer, we also aim to expand the volunteer experience, to launch new projects in a variety of disease areas, and to increase the number of software programs that can run on the World Community Grid.
Looking toward the future
In the short term, the first big change for World Community Grid will be an updated website–stay tuned for an announcement with details very soon. Additionally, we are in the early planning stages of a new project that seeks to identify novel treatments for Parkinson’s disease, and we’re planning to design a youth outreach program to engage high school students in science and technology.
In the long term, we're elated to be part of an organization whose core mission is research excellence, for the benefit of humankind. We hope you'll continue to donate your much-needed computing power to World Community Grid during this exciting time…and beyond.
Thanks to each of you for supporting humanitarian scientific research, and creating the world TEAM, as Together Everyone Accomplishes More. Citizen science fuels and helps open science and open data, pushing our dreams into reality, and making the world a better place. Thank you!
As always, we’re grateful for the support of each volunteer and partner, including Canada's New Digital Research Infrastructure Organization (NDRIO), Compute Ontario, Sharcnet and Cancer Computer. With their continued support we can execute the transition and ensure future growth of the program.
https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/about_us/article.s?articleId=732
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