Researchers from around the globe will gather at IBM in Boca Raton today to discuss the collaborative progress they've made over the last six months on a project to help stem the worldwide spread of potentially fatal infectious diseases.

Coming together under the Global Pandemic Initiative, scientists and computer experts from such organizations as the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The Scripps Research Institute are focusing on bird flu, but their work could be applied to any virus that poses a threat to entire populations.

"These are big-time players, world-class scientists, who are coming to make presentations, define and develop plans and launch new activities that very much will involve our area," said Pete Martinez, IBM senior executive for South Florida.

The group first met on April 28 at IBM in Boca Raton, with Scripps President Dr. Richard Lerner proclaiming, "The world knows what we're doing. … Everyone is paying attention because there is science at the beginning and money at the end."

IBM scientists, including Ajay Royyuru, who oversees 35 computational biologists, are joining with counterparts from medical schools and research organizations on a steering committee that will set priorities and milestones in developing a system to track and respond to infectious disease outbreaks anywhere in the world.

Each research team will use its own money, at least at the start, as officials seek grants from worldwide and national agencies. No cost has been affixed to the project as yet.

Researchers will use IBM-developed software to improve communication and collaboration among medical professionals and scientists by helping them collect and share health data. In the future, the system will help medical facilities, laboratories and public health agencies share that data.

Additional information, such as road maps, airport locations, travel patterns and bird migration routes, could help experts to develop models of how a disease spreads from one part of the world to another. With that in hand, public health officers can develop more effective preparedness plans, IBM officials said.

But the biggest breakthrough could come with the development and distribution of more effective vaccines through collaboration between IBM and The Scripps Research Institute in "Project Checkmate."

That project calls for IBM and Scripps to conduct advanced research on influenza viruses so that scientists can develop more effective and timely vaccines to combat them. Much of the work will be performed using an IBM Blue Gene supercomputer that will be housed in South Florida, Martinez said.

Officials have been looking at various options for its location, including the Scripps Florida campus in Jupiter and Florida Atlantic University's research park in Boca Raton. Regardless of what site is chosen, Florida Power & Light Co. will have to bring more electricity there.

"It would require the equivalent of a new substation," Martinez said.

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