'Help cure COVID-19 in your sleep'

This iPhone and Android app uses your unused smartphone power to crunch medical research, and just might help find a cure for the coronavirus.

Dr Samantha Oakes, Garvan Institute with Erica and Chas Bourne, and Alyssa Jones Head of Vodafone Foundation

Australians are being urged to download an app to help find a cure for COVID-19, with Vodafone-backed app DreamLab harnessing unused smartphone compute power to help crunch medical research.

The Australian-born iOS and Android app, first released five years ago, is now being repurposed to help fight the coronavirus, and downloads are up 700 per cent in one week.

DreamLab takes the collective power of the individual users' smartphones, which otherwise lay dormant overnight, and uses them to solve research problems from Imperial College London, which are processed using an algorithm. The results are then sent back to researchers for analysis.

The app in action.

Alyssa Lane, the head of Vodafone Foundation Australia and Dreamlab's creator, told The Australian that just 100,000 users would have the combined power of a supercomputer that would crunch data that would take a decade using a standard desktop computer.

"I know it sounds too good to be true," she said.

"It's so easy, you literally download the app, plug your phone into a power outlet, and start helping with the research.

"This research matters, and we're asking all Australians to join in and help. The coronavirus is something that's impacting all of us, and the more people that use the app, the faster we can complete the research."

She added that to date over 400,000 people have downloaded the app globally, and that the research is being done in conjunction with the Imperial College London, which has a strong record of making cancer discoveries.

"During this initial phase of the project, researchers will test combinations of up to two molecules of existing drugs or drug-like molecules in foods against host-virus interactomes of coronavirus strains including SARS-Cov-2 – the causative agent responsible for the current COVID-19 pandemic," she said.

Luke Smorgon is the chief executive of Transpire, the Australian tech firm which built the DreamLab app after a commission from the Vodafone Foundation.

He said the DreamLab app is crunching huge amounts of data relating to existing medicines, drugs and food to see if any of them can be repurposed to help treat COVID-19 patients.

Mr Smorgon added that since the COVID-19 project was added demand for the app has risen by 700 per cent.

"Everyone can play a part," he said.

"Australians have been great so far following the medical advice we've been given, and we think they can be great contributors here too to fighting this disease that is ravaging the world. You can do it in your pyjamas or your desk if you're working from home, and join the dream team."

Professor George Hanna, Head of the Department of Surgery and Cancer from Imperial College London said research findings will be made available to the medical profession to facilitate clinical trials.

Any food-related findings will be translated into dietary advice that can be implemented by the medical community for patients recovering from COVID-19.

“These are unprecedented times that demand radical and unprecedented scientific solutions," Professor Hanna said.

"The DreamLab team have taken their knowledge and success in using AI technology to discover anti-cancer properties in existing drugs and foods, and put that to use against this new global threat.”