Member Since: 1/3/2010
Posts: 21,098
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Foldit Gamers Solve Puzzle...
...That has baffled scientists for ten years.
Read on:
Quote:
In the span of three weeks, online gamers deciphered the structure of an enzyme of an AIDS-like virus that has stumped scientists for over a decade a feat beyond the realm of Second Life or Dungeons and Dragons.
The*paper announcing the solving of the protein*in the journal*Nature Structural and Molecular Biology*published on Sunday credits Foldit Contenders Group rather than individual players — both gamers and researchers are honoured as co-authors.
The protein, called a protease, plays a critical role in how some viruses, including HIV, multiply. Intensive research has been underway to find AIDS drugs that can deactivate proteases, but scientists were hampered by their inability to crack the enzyme’s structure.
This is where Foldit comes in.
Foldit*takes the best known models of proteins and offers them to game players, many of whom have no background in science at all. Armed with a set of tools to play with the model, the aim is to produce a version that is as stable as possible, with no molecules clashing with any others and low internal energy.
To solve the puzzle it is not necessary to know what the parts of the model represent, only how they work within the game. Each protein becomes a three-dimensional brainteaser that could be purely abstract but in fact represents a particle that occurs in the real world. Players manipulate the model within the game, stretching bonds between sheets, tucking stray molecules into free spaces and eliminating voids. They gain points by producing a stable solution and can form teams that work together, combining the successful parts of their individual solutions.
Cracking the enzyme “provides new insights for the design of antiretroviral drugs,” says the study, referring to the lifeline medication against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
It is believed to be the first time that gamers have resolved a long-standing scientific problem.
“We wanted to see if human intuition could succeed where automated methods had failed,” Firas Khatib of the university’s biochemistry lab said in a press release.*”The ingenuity of game players is a formidable force that, if properly directed, can be used to solve a wide range of scientific problems.”
Seth Cooper, one of Foldit’s creators explained why gamers had succeeded where computers had failed.*”People have spatial reasoning skills, something computers are not yet good at,” he said.*”Games provide a framework for bringing together the strengths of computers and humans. The results in this week’s paper show that gaming, science and computation can be combined to make advances that were not possible before.”
It is hoped that the new understanding of the protein can now be used in the design of anti-retroviral treatments, including anti-HIV drugs.
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http://thethump.com/blog/foldit-game...ts-for-decade/
This is so interesting.
If any of you guys love playing games, you just might be able help scientists make more advances with Foldit. 
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