More than 20 million Australians will be asked to help fight the coronavirus in their sleep thanks to the Vodafone Foundation and the power of the DreamLab.
DreamLab is an app that was launched in 2015 in partnership with the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and uses the processing power of idle smartphones to fast track cancer research.
Now the app will be re-tooled to help speed up The Imperial College London research as they try to find anti-viral properties in existing medicines and anti-viral food molecules to help unlock a cure for COVID-19.
And Australians can help with that effort in a simple, yet powerful, way.
“Australians face an unprecedented set of challenges as a result of COVID-19. While most of us do our part by staying home, DreamLab offers everyone the power to join the fight. Simply download the DreamLab app and join the DreamTeam,” said Vodafone Foundation Australia head and DreamLab creator Alyssa Lane.
“Imperial College has a proven track record using DreamLab to find existing drugs
and hyperfoods that help fight cancer. The agile nature of DreamLab has enabled us to react quickly and refocus to address COVID-19 and the unprecedented set of circumstances the world is facing.
“Combining the expertise of Imperial College and the power of more than 20 million Aussie smartphone users, DreamLab is sure to drive some incredible results.”
DreamLab can power cloud-based processing to reduce the time it would take analysing huge amounts of data – a process that would normally take years to complete.
By simply signing up to the DreamLab app and allowing access to their phone’s processing power which combine with other users and add up to solid computing power.
And don’t worry, the app is totally safe. It will not access your personal information or anything else stored on your device.
Users in Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Romania and the UK can download the DreamApp for free from the App Store and Google Play Store. Other countries will follow in the coming weeks.
“Over the past five years we have seen huge success with DreamLab and its support for cancer research. Now we want Aussies to #JoinTheDreamTeam and make a difference in the fight against COVID-19,” said Ms Lane.
