World Community Grid was "conceived by IBM as a philanthropic service to the science community," says Ari Fishkind, a representative of IBM's Corporate Citizenship Division. "At an investment cost to IBM of tens of millions of dollars, this resource has helped scientists avoid $340 million in supercomputing costs. Many researchers tell us that it typically saves them 100-200 years in computing time."

All researchers that use World Community Grid make their results public so that the entire scientific community can benefit. IBM does not gain any rights to the research findings.

Saphire's Lab has already mapped the physical form of the Ebola virus in 3-D images. "We've solved the structures that explain what the surface of Ebola virus looks like, how it attaches to and drives itself into cells, and how it behaves like a wolf in sheep's clothing in hiding itself from an immune response," she says.

A different group of work units are being prepared. The first run was about half a million. Those didn't last very long as you might guess. Now a different group are in beta and should be available shortly. More here .