[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5808]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       FIGHTING AGAINST LEUKEMIA

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CONSTANCE A. MORELLA

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 4, 2001

  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, as the past chair of the House Science 
Committee's Technology Subcommittee, I am well aware that technology is 
improving our lives in immeasurable ways--including health care. I rise 
to bring to the attention of the House a recent development in the 
fight against leukemia, a matter of great concern to many of us.
  The National Cancer Institute (NCI), located in my district, is 
engaged in a race to find a drug that may stop the development of 
leukemia. I am pleased to report today on some innovative research 
efforts that are now underway with the help of Intel Corporation, which 
is working in partnership with NCI to advance the search for a cure.
  Leukemia is the number one cause of cancer-related death for 
children. In 1999 alone, over 30,000 new cases were diagnosed in the 
United States. Scientists have already discovered several proteins 
important to the growth of leukemia but they must evaluate millions of 
molecules to see which ones can fight this form of cancer.
  A major problem faced by leukemia researchers is the lack of 
processing abilities. To combat this problem, just yesterday, Craig 
Barrett, President and CEO of Intel and Dr. John Seffrin, CEO of the 
American Cancer Society, announced the launch of Intel.com/cure. This 
website hosts a program which utilizes peer-to-peer technology to 
assist scientists in their search for a cure. By simply downloading a 
screensaver, anyone around the world can join this endeavor.
  Peer-to-peer technology provides unused computing power of individual 
machines to be utilized. A screensaver downloaded from Intel.com/cure 
allows a program to run in the background without disturbing your 
normal computer usage. The program performs a few of the millions of 
calculations that can assist researchers in determining which molecules 
have the greatest cancer-fighting potential.
  This program can be of great assistance to researchers to find a 
cure. The manner and speed of scientific discoveries could be 
fundamentally enhanced. All our otherwise unused processing power could 
create the world's fastest computing platform for great causes. 
Estimates show that this project would be operating at speeds of 
magnitudes faster than the world's fastest supercomputers at a fraction 
of the cost.
  This program could be expanded to include other qualified projects. 
Universities and researchers could post their philanthropic projects on 
the website. PC owners could become part of collaborative research 
efforts. The potential of this project is potentially significant.
  Intel Corporation would like this web site to become a focal point 
for people who want to help launch a new era of PC philanthropy, where 
computer owners lend their PC's ``Idle time'' to a great cause. As a 
leader and innovator in peer-to-peer computing, Intel believes that 
this method will accelerate scientific advancements. This leukemia 
project, developed by United Devices Incorporated, is endorsed by the 
American Cancer Society, the National Foundation for Cancer Research, 
and Oxford University.
  April is Cancer Control Month, a time when we recognize our nation's 
long commitment to fighting cancer. Peer-to-peer technology can be a 
new frontier in how medical research is performed. I commend the 
efforts of this joint research partnership and hope this can be a 
substantial step that will lead to the cure for leukemia.

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