Foldit Solves Molecular Challenge

September 19, 2011 By Aminda

A citizen science web project has achieved a notable success, giving hope to similar projects. According to an MSNBC article, users of the program Foldit, have figured out the mysterious molecular structure of a monkey-virus enzyme. The enzyme is from an AIDS-like virus found in rhesus monkeys. Such enzymes, known as retroviral proteases, play a key role in the virus’ spread — and if medical researchers can figure out their structure, they could conceivably design drugs to stop the virus in its tracks.

The game is designed so players can manipulate virtual molecular structures that look like multicolored puzzles. The virtual molecules follow the same chemical rules that are obeyed by real molecules. When someone playing the game comes up with a more elegant structure that reflects a lower energy state for the molecule, his or her score goes up.

A researcher at the University of Washington put the puzzle on Foldit as a last ditch effort to solve the enzyme dilemma. Users solve it in less than 10 days. Player belonging to a Foldit Group worked as a tag team to come up with an incredibly elegant, low-energy model for the monkey-virus enzyme and the final refined structure was completed a few days later. The team responsible for solving the puzzle is a dedicated and experience group of science enthusiasts who help each other out to achieve better results. A strategy which clearly paid off.

Researches are excited about the potential this program has for changing both science research and science education. Foldit, which was launched in 1998 and has more than 200 thousand members, is just one of several similar science game sites.


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