Re: Online gamers crack AIDS enzyme puzzle

[Guest guest]

wow, how cool!

 

http://news.yahoo.com/online-gamers-crack-aids-enzyme-puzzle-175427367.html

Online gamers crack AIDS enzyme

puzzle

AFP – Sun, Sep 18, 2011

Related Content

Youths play a computer online game at an IT

fair. Online gamers have achieved a feat …

Online gamers have achieved a feat beyond the

realm of Second Life or Dungeons and Dragons: they

have deciphered the structure of an enzyme of an

AIDS-like virus that had thwarted scientists for a

decade.

The exploit is published on Sunday in the journal

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, where --

exceptionally in scientific publishing -- both

gamers and researchers are honoured as co-authors.

Their target was a monomeric protease enzyme, a

cutting agent in the complex molecular tailoring of

retroviruses, a family that includes HIV.

Figuring out the structure of proteins is vital

for understanding the causes of many diseases and

developing drugs to block them.

But a microscope gives only a flat image of what

to the outsider looks like a plate of

one-dimensional scrunched-up spaghetti.

Pharmacologists, though, need a 3-D picture that

"unfolds" the molecule and rotates it in order to

reveal potential targets for drugs.

This is where Foldit comes in.

Developed in 2008 by the University of

Washington, it is a fun-for-purpose video game in

which gamers, divided into competing groups, compete

to unfold chains of amino acids -- the building

blocks of proteins -- using a set of online tools.

To the astonishment of the scientists, the gamers

produced an accurate model of the enzyme in just

three weeks.

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."

One of Foldit's creators, Seth , 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."

 

Sharon

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