What is the purpose of Foldit?
It is part of an experimental research project developed by the University of Washington, Center for Game Science, in collaboration with the UW Department of Biochemistry. The objective of Foldit is to fold the structures of selected proteins as perfectly as possible, using tools provided in the game.
What is the purpose of Foldit game in relation to enzyme technology?
An online game has helped determine the structure of an enzyme that could pave the way for anti-Aids drugs. The game, called Foldit, allows players to create new shapes of proteins by randomly folding digital molecules on their computer screens.
What is the Foldit project?
Play a competitive online game to fold proteins. Foldit is a computer game that enables you to contribute to important scientific research in protein folding. Players compete with one another to discover high-scoring protein folds, which represent a protein’s physical structure.
What are clashes in Foldit?
If you’ve folded a protein so two sidechains are too close together, your score will go down a lot. This is represented by a red spiky ball (clash) where the two sidechains are intersecting. If there are clashes, you know something is wrong with your protein.
How does energy relate to Foldit?
In Foldit terms, the lower the free energy, the higher the score. Free energy makes a protein less stable. So a major goal in Foldit is to minimize free energy, making the protein more stable and increasing the score in Foldit.
Can video games help solve real world problems?
The study conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development found out that playing games increase the grey matter. Basically, that’s the size of your brain, and it also helps refine learned and hardwired skills too.
What is the protein game?
The game is a protein-folding puzzler called Foldit, which was created at UW’s Center for Game Science more than a decade ago and has attracted nearly more than 750,000 registered players since then. Foldit’s fans find ways to twist virtual protein structures into all sorts of contortions.
What are peptides and polypeptides?
A peptide is two or more amino acids joined together by peptide bonds, and a polypeptide is a chain of many amino acids. A protein contains one or more polypeptides.
How do you become a citizen scientist?
Here are four common features of citizen science practice: (a) anyone can participate, (b) participants use the same protocol so data can be combined and be high quality, (c) data can help real scientists come to real conclusions and (d) a wide community of scientists and volunteers work together and share data to …
What does it actually mean when you increase your Foldit score?
In Foldit, score usually refers to the score for a protein when it’s in a certain position or pose. The higher the score, the better the pose. Players also have a “global score”, points awarded for a completing puzzles as either a soloist or an evolver.