One in four of us will at some time suffer from cancer. The high mortality rate, the suffering experienced by patients from the side effects of existing treatments, and the high costs of treatment all contribute to making cancer a priority for drug research.

A landmark research project has begun that allows people to make a real difference in the fight against cancer.

The United Devices Cancer Research Project is asking you to volunteer your PC to help process molecular research being conducted by the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oxford in England and the National Foundation for Cancer Research. To participate, you simply download a very small, no cost, non-invasive software program that works like a screensaver: it runs when your computer isn't being used, and processes research until you need your machine. Your computer never leaves your desk, and the project never interrupts your usual PC use.

There is no cost to participate and no impact on your computer use. The project software cannot detect or transfer anything on your machine but project-specific information. It just allows your computer to screen molecules that may be developed into drugs to fight cancer. Each individual computer analyzes a few molecules and then sends the results back over the Internet for further research. This project is anticipated to be the largest computational chemistry project ever undertaken and represents a genuine hope to find a better way to fight cancer.

The computational power to perform research of this scale is only available through the generosity of individuals like you.