High school students’ computers being used for cancer research
Published: August 14, 2005
Students at Trigg County High School are helping search for treatments cancer and they may not even know it.
The computer lab at the school is linked to the James Brown Graham Cancer Center at the University of Louisville. Researchers at the university use the school’s 30 new Apple eMac computers to form a type of supercomputer for cancer researchers.
While students work on science and math problems on the screen, the computers will be constantly working in the background to find elements that could be effective against cancer, much like a giant math equation.
Researchers are using the computer grid to compare chemical combinations to various cancer elements to see if any might be effective. There has already been a hit in Caldwell County, where several treatments were identified as possibly effective against cancer elements.
The research is fueled by a computer’s “think” capacity not being used by students during the day or after hours. Students’ work will not be hindered or affected by the research.
The program affects approximately 130,000 students in the state, eight counties in all with another 50 possible in the future. The National Institute of Health has identified the program as a possible national model for research.
Brian Gupton, executive director of the Kentucky Dataseam Initiative, which launched the program, said the 30 machines in Trigg County are able to complete about 47 years of cancer research in about 120 days.
“That’s a big deal, especially when the state of Kentucky has some of the highest cancer rates in the country,” Gupton said.
What it means for cancer patients is more efficient drug therapies, more cost-effective therapies and, in some cases, less toxic chemotherapy drugs, said Gupton.
Trigg County High School educators said the implications of the new lab are boundless, taking science lessons from textbooks to real-time on-line.
“This gives the students hands-on knowledge,” said Science Survey teacher Simone Parker.
Gupton said another goal is to get more students to pursue careers in science and math, and keep those careers in Kentucky.
“Cancer research is not a guy in a white lab coat looking down the barrel of a microscope. It’s this,” he said, sweeping his arm over the row of computers.
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