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<div style="background-color: #D4E2FC; border-top: 1px solid #5F92F2; font-size: bigger; padding-left: 15px; margin: 12px -5px -5px -5px;">'''BOINC project page template'''</div>
{{Infobox software
| name                = Ralph@home
| logo                = Ralph.gif
| logo caption        = Ralph@home project logo
| screenshot          =
| caption              =


[[File:{{#setmainimage:Rosetta.gif}}|alt=screensaver|center|frameless]]
| status              = Active
| category            = [[wikipedia:Protein structure prediction|Protein structure prediction]], [[wikipedia:Bioinformatics|bioinformatics]], [[wikipedia:Molecular biology|molecular biology]]
| compute              = CPU
| dependencies        =


[https://ralph.bakerlab.org/ '''''RALPH@home'''''] is a '''''[[wikipedia:Volunteer computing|volunteer distributed computing]]''''' project that uses [https://boinc.berkeley.edu/ '''''BOINC'''''] and needs your help to ...
| developer            = [[wikipedia:David Baker (biochemist)|David Baker]] and the Rosetta Commons community
| author              = Baker Laboratory, [[wikipedia:University of Washington|University of Washington]]
| sponsor              = [[wikipedia:University of Washington|University of Washington]]
| maintainer          = Baker Laboratory
| released            = {{Start date and age|2007|0|0}}
 
| programming language = C, C++
| operating system    = Windows, Linux, macOS, Android
 
| stats as of          = {{Start date and age|2026|05|16}}
| average performance  = 4.28 TFLOPS
| active users        = 4478
| total users          = 1384958
| active hosts        = 7926
| total hosts          = 4561055
 
| website              = {{URL|https://ralph.bakerlab.org/}}
| license              = Mixed; Rosetta software license with BOINC components under LGPL
}}
 
[https://ralph.bakerlab.org/ '''''RALPH@home'''''] is a '''[[wikipedia:Volunteer computing|volunteer distributed computing]]''' project based on the [https://boinc.berkeley.edu/ '''BOINC'''] middleware platform. The project is operated by the Baker Laboratory at the [[wikipedia:University of Washington|University of Washington]] and serves as the public alpha and beta testing platform for Rosetta@home.<ref name="ralph-home">{{cite web
|url=https://ralph.bakerlab.org/
|title=Ralph@home
|publisher=Baker Laboratory
|access-date=2026-05-22
}}</ref>
 
Ralph@home allows volunteers to test experimental versions of Rosetta applications, work units, and infrastructure updates before they are deployed on the main Rosetta@home production system.<ref name="ralph-home" /> The project contributes to research involving [[wikipedia:Protein folding|protein folding]], protein structure prediction, computational protein design, drug discovery, vaccine development, and molecular modeling.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://boinc.bakerlab.org/
|title=Rosetta@home
|publisher=Baker Laboratory
|access-date=2026-05-22
}}</ref>
 
Unlike standard BOINC projects that provide a continuous stream of scientific work, Ralph@home is primarily a testing environment and may periodically have little or no available work.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://ralph.bakerlab.org/
|title=Ralph@home
|publisher=Baker Laboratory
|access-date=2026-05-22
}}</ref>


== Why RALPH@home? ==
== Why RALPH@home? ==


* why this topic/object of study?
Proteins are essential biological molecules responsible for nearly every cellular process. Determining how proteins fold into their three-dimensional structures remains one of the major problems in computational biology. The number of possible conformations for a protein grows exponentially with sequence length, making exhaustive computational analysis impractical for conventional systems.
 
The Rosetta software suite uses heuristic and probabilistic methods to estimate energetically favorable protein conformations. Ralph@home exists to validate new Rosetta@home software releases and experimental workflows before they are distributed to the larger Rosetta@home volunteer network.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://ralph.bakerlab.org/
|title=How does it work?
|publisher=Baker Laboratory
|access-date=2026-05-22
}}</ref>
 
Protein folding calculations frequently attempt to minimize an energy function:
 
<math>E_{\text{total}} = E_{\text{vdw}} + E_{\text{electrostatic}} + E_{\text{hydrogen bonding}} + E_{\text{solvation}}</math>
 
where:
 
* <math>E_{\text{vdw}}</math> represents van der Waals interactions
* <math>E_{\text{electrostatic}}</math> represents electrostatic forces
* <math>E_{\text{hydrogen bonding}}</math> represents hydrogen bond energies
* <math>E_{\text{solvation}}</math> represents solvent interaction effects
 
The project became especially visible during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Rosetta-based methods were used in the design of antiviral proteins and vaccine-related research.<ref>{{cite journal
|last1=Cao
|first1=L.
|last2=Goreshnik
|first2=I.
|last3=Coventry
|first3=B.
|title=De novo design of picomolar SARS-CoV-2 miniprotein inhibitors
|journal=Science
|volume=370
|issue=6515
|pages=426–431
|year=2020
|doi=10.1126/science.abd9909
|doi-access=free
}}</ref>


== Goal ==
== Goal ==
* summarize the objectives and challenges which the project addresses, before jumping into details
 
The primary goal of Ralph@home is to provide a controlled testing platform for new Rosetta@home software releases and scientific applications before public deployment on the production project.<ref name="ralph-home" />
 
Specific objectives include:
 
* Testing experimental Rosetta application builds
* Validating BOINC scheduler and server changes
* Detecting instability or computational errors before release
* Benchmarking performance on different operating systems and processors
* Evaluating new scientific protocols and workflows
 
Ralph@home helps ensure that unstable or defective work units do not negatively affect the main Rosetta@home infrastructure. Since the project acts as an alpha and beta testing environment, volunteers may encounter failed tasks, application crashes, invalid credits, or resets of project statistics.<ref name="ralph-home" />


== Methods ==
== Methods ==
* always including "why BOINC"?
[[File:Rosetta.gif|thumb|Example of the Rosetta@home visualization and screensaver]]
* insert MediaWiki image or upload[[File:Example of a GUI.png|alt=example mediawiki image|none|thumb|example MediaWiki image]]
Ralph@home uses the BOINC distributed computing framework to divide large-scale protein modeling calculations into smaller independent work units that can be processed on volunteer computers worldwide.<ref>{{cite journal
* impactful final statement
|last1=Anderson
|first1=D. P.
|title=BOINC: A System for Public-Resource Computing and Storage
|journal=Proceedings of the 5th IEEE/ACM International Workshop on Grid Computing
|year=2004
|pages=4–10
|doi=10.1109/GRID.2004.14
}}</ref>
 
Volunteers install the BOINC client software and attach to Ralph@home using the project URL. The BOINC scheduler distributes test work units to participating computers, which perform molecular simulations while the system is idle.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://ralph.bakerlab.org/join.php
|title=Join Ralph@home
|publisher=Baker Laboratory
|access-date=2026-05-22
}}</ref>
 
Rosetta algorithms frequently use stochastic optimization techniques such as [[wikipedia:Monte Carlo method|Monte Carlo sampling]]:
 
<math>P = e^{-\Delta E / kT}</math>
 
where:
 
* <math>P</math> is the probability of accepting a conformational change
* <math>\Delta E</math> is the change in energy
* <math>k</math> is the [[wikipedia:Boltzmann constant|Boltzmann constant]]
* <math>T</math> is temperature
 
This probabilistic approach helps search extremely large conformational spaces efficiently.
 
Because Ralph@home distributes pre-release software, users are encouraged not to abort tasks even if problems occur, since failed tasks may provide useful debugging information for developers.<ref name="ralph-home" />
 
The project historically supported applications including:
 
* Rosetta
* Rosetta Mini
* Rosetta Beta
* Rosetta Python Projects
 
According to server statistics, the project periodically experiences low task availability because work is generated only when active testing is required.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://boinc.bakerlab.org/server_status.php
|title=Project status
|publisher=Baker Laboratory
|access-date=2026-05-22
}}</ref>
 
== Scientific background ==
 
Rosetta software is widely used in computational structural biology and protein engineering. The broader Rosetta platform has contributed to research involving:
 
* Protein structure prediction
* Protein-protein docking
* Enzyme engineering
* Antibody design
* Vaccine design
* Drug discovery
* [[wikipedia:Synthetic biology|Synthetic biology]]
 
Rosetta methods rely heavily on fragment assembly, statistical potentials, and energy minimization techniques.<ref>{{cite journal
|last1=Das
|first1=R.
|last2=Baker
|first2=D.
|title=Macromolecular modeling with Rosetta
|journal=Annual Review of Biochemistry
|volume=77
|pages=363–382
|year=2008
|doi=10.1146/annurev.biochem.77.062906.171838
}}</ref>
 
== Scientific publications ==
 
The Ralph@home and Rosetta@home infrastructure has contributed to numerous peer-reviewed publications in structural biology and computational chemistry.
 
* Das, R. and Baker, D. "Macromolecular modeling with Rosetta". ''Annual Review of Biochemistry'' 77 (2008): 363–382. {{doi|10.1146/annurev.biochem.77.062906.171838}}
* Anderson, D. P. "BOINC: A System for Public-Resource Computing and Storage". ''IEEE/ACM GRID 2004''. {{doi|10.1109/GRID.2004.14}}
* Cao, L. et al. "De novo design of picomolar SARS-CoV-2 miniprotein inhibitors". ''Science'' 370 (6515), 2020. {{doi|10.1126/science.abd9909}}


== Project team / Sponsors ==
== Project team / Sponsors ==
Ralph@home is operated by the Baker Laboratory at the [[wikipedia:University of Washington|University of Washington]]. The project is associated with the broader Rosetta Commons consortium, an international collaboration of laboratories developing the Rosetta molecular modeling software suite.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.rosettacommons.org/
|title=Rosetta Commons
|publisher=Rosetta Commons
|access-date=2026-05-22
}}</ref>
Key contributors to the Rosetta and Rosetta@home ecosystem include:
* [[wikipedia:David Baker (biochemist)|David Baker]]
* Rosetta Commons developers
* Baker Laboratory researchers
* Volunteer BOINC participants worldwide
== Applications ==
Ralph@home has historically tested several applications and variants before deployment to Rosetta@home production systems.
{| class="wikitable"
! Application
! Purpose
|-
| Rosetta
| General protein structure prediction and modeling
|-
| Rosetta Beta
| Experimental beta testing builds
|-
| Rosetta Mini
| Lightweight Rosetta implementation
|-
| Rosetta Python Projects
| Python-integrated Rosetta workflows
|}
== Server statistics ==
As of May 2026, the project reported approximately 1.38 million registered users and more than 4.56 million participating computers. The estimated computing throughput was approximately 4.28 teraFLOPS.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://boinc.bakerlab.org/server_status.php
|title=Project status
|publisher=Baker Laboratory
|access-date=2026-05-22
}}</ref>
== Availability of work ==
Because Ralph@home is a testing project rather than a production science platform, work units are distributed intermittently. Community discussions on Reddit and BOINC forums frequently note that volunteers may experience long periods without available work.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/BOINC/comments/fviyf5/
|title=Returning to BOINC after several years, no tasks?
|website=Reddit
|access-date=2026-05-22
}}</ref>
The project intentionally operates with a limited and irregular workload to reduce the risk of unstable applications affecting larger-scale scientific production systems.
== See also ==
* [[wikipedia:BOINC|BOINC]]
* [[wikipedia:Rosetta@home|Rosetta@home]]
* [[wikipedia:Protein folding|Protein folding]]
* [[wikipedia:Distributed computing|Distributed computing]]
* [[wikipedia:Citizen science|Citizen science]]
== External links ==
* [https://ralph.bakerlab.org/ Official Ralph@home website]
* [https://boinc.bakerlab.org/ Rosetta@home]
* [https://boinc.berkeley.edu/ BOINC]
* [https://www.rosettacommons.org/ Rosetta Commons]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:BOINC projects]]
[[Category:Distributed computing projects]]
[[Category:Protein structure prediction]]
[[Category:University of Washington]]
[[Category:Bioinformatics]]
[[Category:Volunteer computing]]
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