Fold It finds potential Anti-HIV Protein

texasheat

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/09/19/us-gamers-crack-puzzle-in-aids-research-that-stumped-scientists-for-years/

In that article they say gamers, you and me, found this potential anti-HIV protein. The possiblility here is endless when you think about it. We want to know more, if you have any info, on this or other unique ways nerds are helping, please share with the rest of the class.

It's webpage is http://fold.it/portal/

PDF link to the published results: http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/zoran/NSMBfoldit-2011.pdf

Malkor

It's a real story, I didn't hear much about the "game" though.

texasheat

If it is a game i can play, i'll pay whoever i have to to play it. That just sounds too interesting to try out just to say you were a part of it...

Jutranjo

RPS has a description what and how it was done
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/09/19/pc-gamers-save-the-world-a-bit/

Also a download link for the game.

TheKoolEagle

Ah, I've heard about Foldit before but I never really looked into it, I thought it was actually just a program you could run which gave computing power of everyone in your group to do computer equations, basically making super computers with everyones home computers

Jam Warrior

This is a freaking genius idea. Fuck cloud computing, go for cloud sourcing of slightly autistic puzzle nuts! Just shows how the best computers pale into insignificance compared to the human brain.

That and how some people will dedicate time to the most dull of tasks if there's potentially a high score and a little congratulations message waiting at the end of it. Better use of that brain processing power than filling in yet another fucking sudoku anyhow.

edit: To KoolEagle above. This seems a bit more actually interactive than Folding@Home which is what I think you're thinking of.

Cantido

Viruses look like little wads of Cthulhu.

TheKoolEagle

@Jam Warrior: Yeah thats what I was thinking of, I've never heard of this before, but still really cool!

chiasaur11

Heh.

People always go around saying if the nerd brain energy for ARGs or romhacks or summat were used proper, it could cure cancer and such.

Good to see something other than talk coming out of the whole thing.

texasheat

Sorry i can't get to that rockpapershotgun at work. Can someone post the game title and i'll update subject line.

L Ron Howard

The game is titled Foldit.
It's webpage is http://fold.it/portal/
PDF link to the published results: http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/zoran/NSMBfoldit-2011.pdf

Wulf

Nerd-sourcing indeed!

Zilla360

Not just HIV, but pandemic flu as well:

The designed small protein binder against H2 Hemagglutinin results are being analyzed right now and the results are very impressive. We are using the top models as design guides to help us understand the differences between binding to H1 and H2 Hemagglutinin. We’ve known for sometime that this design will bind H1 Hemagglutinin (found on the most common strains of the flu and also Spanish flu) but we are trying to extend the design to also bind H2 Hemagglutinin. While the H2 strain of flu is less common today, it was responsible for ~1 million deaths in a 1957 and was last seen in humans in 1968. As your body’s immune system has probably not been exposed to the H2 strain, it would likely not have antibodies that could protect against it, making H2 influenza a potential pandemic should it reappear. By designing a binder to both H1 and H2 strains we are trying to protect against both current and future Influenza threats.

L Ron Howard

Also, props to RPS for calling what researchers see in the microscope as a "2D sploodge"