Scientists launch 'protein folding' computer game
The new computer game will aim to help better understand protein
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Friday, 09, May 2008 04:46
A new computer game has been launched by scientists in which gamers 'fold up' protein strands, in the hope that it will help explain their structure.
The game, Foldit, teaches the rules by which protein strands curl and twist into three-dimensional shapes.
Zoran Popovic, a University of Washington associate professor of computer science and engineering, declared the new game "will change the way science is done, and who it's done by".
"Our ultimate goal is to have ordinary people play the game and eventually be candidates for winning the Nobel Prize," Professor Popovic said.
There are more than 1,000 different kinds of protein in the human body, found in every cell and the immune system.
Computer simulators can calculate all the possible protein shapes, but the problem is so large it would take hundreds of years to solve.
Scientists hope that eventually they will be able to present medical problems such as HIV or malaria and challenge gamers to devise a protein with the right shape to "lock into the virus and deactivate it".
"Long-term, I'm hoping that we can get a significant fraction of the world's population engaged in solving critical problems in world health, and doing it collaboratively and successfully through the game," professor of biochemistry David Baker said.
"We're trying to use the brain power of people all around the world to advance biomedical research."