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(Toronto) A massive project is harnessing the power of tens of thousands of personal computers around the world in a bid to winnow out potential drugs to more effectively fight the global scourge of AIDS.

A virtual supercomputer grid, created by IBM, will allow individuals and businesses to donate down-time on their personal computers via a secure website. The idle PCs will be used to run millions of computations in the search for chemical compounds that could eventually provide more effective HIV therapies, the company was to announce Monday.

"This project was created about a year ago . . . essentially to create a virtual supercomputer devoted specifically to humanitarian purposes," said Stanley Litow, IBM vice-president for corporate community relations.

"We've been working over the last year to build the number of PCs that are connected and we've also been working on a first research project, analyzing all the proteins in the human body," Litow told The Canadian Press from New York.

"But now we are adding this AIDS project. This is brand new to the grid, and the idea is to take years off of the research that would be required to find a cure for AIDS."

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