If science is your forte then this puzzle game is the perfect for you to pass your time and contribute to a cause. Foldit is a puzzle game about folding protein. In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, the developers of Foldit have released a new puzzle called “Coronavirus Spike Protein Binder Design”. This allows users to create an antiviral protein that will counteract the spike in protein caused by Coronavirus.
The game has two different “difficulty levels”,easy and hard. The easier level lets players fold an existing coronavirus binding protein and in the harder one the player will have to design the protein from scratch. The developers also announced that the most promising solutions will be tested at UW’s Institute for Protein Design.
Foldit is encouraging people to start playing the game as they believe that this will speed up the process of finding a cure.
According to the puzzle’s description:
“Coronaviruses display a ‘spike’ protein on their surface. Which binds tightly to a receptor protein found on the surface of human cells. Once the coronavirus spike binds to the human receptor, the virus can infect the human cell and replicate… If we can design a protein that binds to this coronavirus spike protein. It could be used to block the interaction with human cells and halt infection.
Foldit was created by University of Washington researchers with the intent of using gamers’ tireless compulsion to solve problems to help scientific innovation. In Foldit, the player folds protein structures to create new ones, furthering understanding of different protein chains. Or, to quote the Foldit FAQ: “The more we know about how certain proteins fold, the better new proteins we can design to combat the disease-related proteins and cure the diseases.” According to UW’s Center for Game Science, from which the game was launched in 2008, it was designed to “work on curing cancer, AIDS, and a host of diseases.”
Foldit aren’t the only organisation working towards finding a cure for the game. Folding@home is also researching new protein structures. The more data collected, more beneficial it becomes for research. If you’re interested in trying the game out, you can find it on Foldit‘s website here. The game is free-to-play.
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