Spam filters may lead scientists to AIDS vaccine
Found on Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Wednesday, 23 February 2005
Software scientists at Microsoft Research have teamed up with biomedical researchers in Seattle, Boston and Perth, Australia, to see if computer techniques used to defeat e-mail spam can also be used to help design a vaccine that can defeat AIDS.
"HIV mutates like crazy, but it does show a pattern," said Dr. David Heckerman, a physician and computer scientist at Microsoft Research.
"HIV mutates by making errors in its (genetic) copying," Jojic said. But it can make only so many errors, he said, if it hopes to retain the genetic equivalent of the spammer's intended e-mail.
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