Game of Life

Proteins are tiny intricate machines our cells use for thousands of specific jobs – healing wounds? metabolism? cell division? – there’s a protein for that, in fact probably a whole set. Complimenting this vast natural toolbox, biomechanical engineers are exploring new structures, virtually folding and twisting chains of amino acids [protein building blocks] with a view to helping life inside cells – the trouble is there's so many possible designs. ‘Foldit’, a new online game, involves the public in this giant protein ‘sandbox’ – using natural design rules as targets and goals for high scores. This design, a team effort from citizen scientists ‘Galaxie’ ‘Waya’, and ‘Susume’, won a recent tournament to find the most stable protein structure from a starting puzzle. With varied approaches from “collaborate with others, discuss findings” to “Wiggle it, pull it, twist it, shake it”, Foldit users are handing creative designs to researchers, potentially closing in on molecules that will improve our lives.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Foldit players Galaxie, Waya and Susume
• Research from the Baker Lab, Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
• Image copyright held by the originators
• Research published in Nature, June 2019