Computer software designed by Oxford scientists to find a cure for cancer is being adapted to help in the fight against chemical warfare.

PC users will be able to download a screensaver which will search for molecules that could prove useful to combat anthrax.

The program, sponsored by computer chip manufacturer Intel and software producer Microsoft, was set up as a direct result of the suicide attacks in New York, on September 11 last year. It also follows incidents worldwide of anthrax-contaminated letters being sent through the post.

The new software could speed up research to find a cure for the deadly disease.

It works while computers lie idle by sorting through molecular structures to find any which could be used to inhibit the progress of the disease.

Findings are sent back to a central base via the Internet and will be handed over to governments in the USA and other countries.

The software has built on the success of Oxford University's recent cancer research, which used a screensaver to search through 3.5 billion molecules -- a task that would have taken one computer decades to achieve.

More than one million people across the world downloaded the program from the Internet to help with the project.

Prof Graham Richards, Oxford University chairman of chemistry and scientific director of the project, said: "Massively-distributed computing provides efficient and speedy ways to identify new drug candidates.

"Particularly with anthrax and other related bioterrorist threats, speed to discovery is of the essence.

"Without this technology and the support of our collaborators, there would be no other way to tackle such a tremendous task."

To help in the fight against anthrax, download the screensaver at www.intel.com/cure

PC users who want to help in the fight to find a cure for cancer, can find the cancer screensaver at www.ud.com