What makes me addicted to The Unfused Journal Team

Dear Facebook & twitter community,

As the title suggests, we are launching our own Folding@Home Team. The really good thing here is that we are allready having above 95 000 points to start along, so we dont have to start from zero. Why do I want you to contribute to our 'The Unfused Folding Team' ?
Indeed it is a very personal reason. I have come to Folding three years ago when I have found out that it is also working on a genetic dis- and misorder named Cystic Fibrosis. I have Cystic Fibrosis and three years ago it was not so bad as it is now. The nasty disease sits mostly directly in your lungs, to percise it cause the normal natural mucus in the lungs to be more dry and so more sticky.



->What exactly makes the mucus being dry?
Within the DNA of a person with C.F. (Cystic Fibrosis) it mostly lacks 3 bases at a part of the DNA which stores the information for an important part of the cells: A Tunnel which is in charge of the watering of the cells (Very simple so you understand all better, we are educated but all no real scientist :-)) will not be built because it reads the wrong information because of missing 3 bases. The bases are deleted while Folding the DNA.

->What makes the Situation even worse?



There are many things which makes the life of a C.F.-person worse, one of them is that many other organs are/will be/might affected too. But the hardest thing is, that the sticky mucus hardly gets out, so it will be an 'all you can eat' paradise for many sorts of bacteria and fungi. Antibiotics are really necessary to fight of some of them, but you cannot fight of all, which can lead to a lung infection (REALLY WORST CASE! When not discovered before it is too late it can lead to more lung damage and even cause death) which makes the C.F.-person even weaker(I had one which had to be fought of with heavy antibiotics and they happily succeded). Unlike Alzheimer which breaks out one day, C.F. affects the person starting from birth.

I would be really glad and happy if you would support our Folding@Home Team, not only to cure C.F. but also the other nasty genetic disorders, so that Darwin's statement 'survival of the fittest' gets less true on humanity today.

Sincerely yours

Andreas Gunkel