Yesterday Sony announced since they took part in the Stanford University’s “Folding@home project” on March 22, 2007 that the registered number of users has reached well over one million users.

If your not familiar with “Folding@home”… it aims to understand protein folding and misfolding, and how these are related to diseases and many forms of cancer. When proteins do not fold correctly, there can be serious consequences, including many well-known diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s disease, and many cancers and cancer-related syndromes, according to the release.

Here is a quote where Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) talking about working on the project…

“Since partnering with SCEI, we have seen our research capabilities increase by leaps and bounds through the continued participation of Folding@home users,” said Vijay Pande, Associate Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University and Folding@home project lead. “Now we have over one million PS3 users registered for Folding@home, allowing us to address questions previously considered impossible to tackle computationally, with the goal of finding cures to some of the world’s most life-threatening diseases. We are grateful for the extraordinary worldwide participation by PS3 and PC users around the globe.”

The release also says that PS3 users make up approximately 74% of the total teraflop computing power of the project.

If you wish to take place in the project… you can download Folding@home here.