The World Community Grid did a similar project a while back, the Help Defeat Cancer Project. There is a new one going on now, the Help Conquer Cancer Project
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/pr...iewHcc1Main.do
The WGC is huge, doing a year's worth every day because it pools the spare computing power of hundreds of thousands of computers world wide. Volunteers are welcome (I am a member of the team, cancerfighters).
I think that there is also a similar program that can run in the background of one of the standard computer consoles.
Still, every little bit helps.