Who would have ever thought that U.S. gamers could crack a mystery wide open that has baffled scientists for years? Well, the breakthrough that was discovered was based on AIDS research, and has now opened doors for a new AIDS drug design.
In just three weeks, the gamers figured out the structure of a retrovirus protein. That protein, called protease, is a major factor in determining how certain viruses, such as HIV multiply.
Scientists were unable to figure out how to crack the enzymes structure. So, researchers at the University of Washington turned to a computer program known as Foldit. This program transforms problems of a scientific nature into computer games that challenge gamers to use three dimensional troubleshooting skills to build an accurate model of the enzyme.
The gamers were able to generate very good models of the enzyme. The researchers then tweaked those models into an accurate picture of the enzymes structure. Due to this innovative way of thinking, the scientists were able to identify parts of the molecule that are targets for potential drugs to block the enzyme.
In the end, these findings will pave the way for the design of antiretroviral dugs.
A lead author of the study, Firas Khatib stated, "We wanted to see if human intuition could succeed where automated methods had failed. 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, the co-creator of Foldit further stated, "People have spatial reasoning skills, something computers are not yet good at. 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."