Specialists of the Institute for protein design University of Washington began to experience the options of protein molecules, which would block the spinous processes of coronavirus, not allowing him to penetrate the human cell

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Specialists of the Institute for protein design University of Washington began to experience the options of protein molecules, which would block the spinous processes of coronavirus, not allowing it to penetrate into human cells. Construction, which was adopted by chemists and bioengineers Institute, created the game Foldit, developed in 2008 by the Center for game science as a joint project of five leading American universities.

During the existence of the game gamers have helped scientists make some breakthrough discoveries. Initially, the platform was created to combat other diseases – primarily HIV and various cancers. But now she is completely dedicated to finding a cure COVID-19, writes BBC Russian service.

Play Foldit everyone can, it does not need to have any technical, scientific, and medical skills. The game resembles the virtual 3D designer with details of bizarre forms. This is actually the protein chain generated by the random number. The player’s task – to improve the design by rotating the fragments relative to each other and freeing the whites from the virtual model of coronavirus. For every successful action the player gets points.

The first hundred the best options are already being tested at the University of Washington, BBC reports. Experts hand-picked the offered players a virtual chain of proteins in the lab to test how they roll in real life.

Scientists have recognized that gamers are able to predict the crystal structure of proteins more effectively than experts or computer algorithms. In 2010, more than 57 thousand players predicted structure of a protein more precisely than the machine algorithm, were collectively listed as the authors of the publication in the journal Nature.

As written, the publication of N+1 fans of Foldit helped to clarify the crystal structure of retroviral protease monkey virus Mason-Pfizer. The solution to the problem with which nobody could cope for 15 years, took just 10 days. In 2012, gamers were able to improve an artificial enzyme designed computer simulation for the catalysis of the Diels-alder. The addition of 13 amino acids increased the enzyme activity more than 18 times.