POEM@home

POEM @ HOME (Protein Optimization with Energy Methods, protein optimization with energy methods) is a project of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the attempts by the technique of distributed computing to optimize protein structures.

For this purpose, it uses an atomic model for the free energy of proteins, and therefore POEM @ HOME works with both new protein folds as well as for applications in nanobiotechnology, for which no experimental data. The project was officially launched in October 2007. The basis of the calculations is the BOINC software from the University of California, Berkeley. Currently, the processing power of the project is approximately 713 teraflops (March 2013), which can vary depending on the daily output.

Scientific relevance

It used a different scientific approach to protein folding from similar projects. To this end, Christian B. Anfinsen the Nobel Prize -winning thermodynamic hypothesis is used, which states that proteins in their biologically active state have a minimum free energy. The otherwise usual, in computing time consuming simulation processes have been replaced by much faster optimization processes.

Although POEM @ HOME was launched only recently, already first results could be presented. With these results, the project also takes part in the bi -annual research competition CASP.

Objectives

POEM @ HOME has the following objectives:

• Predict the biologically active structure of proteins
• Understanding of the signal processing mechanisms during the interaction of different proteins together
• Understanding of diseases based on protein malfunction or aggregation
• Development of new drugs on the basis of three-dimensional structures of biologically important proteins