Protein folding turned into a computer game
Awesome game developed by scientists from the University of Washington (USA). The program called Fold.it is a model for folding proteins into three-dimensional structures. The gamer should try to do this in the best possible way. The program will load real data about the real, just invented proteins, which are not clear how to fold. The results will be sent via the Internet to the processing center, where they will be checked on a supercomputer (this will be from the fall, but for now the program has already solved riddles, so now it serves as a simulator).
In fact, all gamers in our world spend billions of man-hours on games that are useless for humanity like WoW, Counter-Strike or Solitaire. At the same time, they could use intelligence more efficiently: for example, folding proteins on the screen of their monitor. This is also interesting in its own way.
David Baker, one of the game's developers, a professor of biochemistry, truly believes that talents live in the world somewhere who have an innate ability to calculate 3D models of proteins in their minds. Some 12-year-old boy from Indonesia will see the game and will be able to solve problems that even a supercomputer cannot do. Who knows, maybe such people really exist?
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Each protein (in the human body there are more than 100,000 species) is a long molecule. Predicting into which intricate form this molecule will collapse under certain conditions (and whether it can even curl into any stable form) is a task of the highest degree of complexity. Computer modeling is a resource-intensive process, but at the same time critical in pharmaceuticals. Indeed, without knowing the shape of a protein, it is impossible to model its properties. If these properties are useful, then proteins can be synthesized and on their base to make new effective drugs, for example, for the treatment of cancer or AIDS (the Nobel Prize is guaranteed in both cases).
Currently, hundreds of thousands of computers in a distributed computer network are working on calculating the model of each protein molecule, but scientists from Washington University offer another way: not stupid busting through all the options, but brainstorming through a computer game. The number of options is reduced by an order of magnitude, and the supercomputer will find the correct folding parameters much faster.
Everyone can play the three-dimensional "entertaining" Fold.it: even children and secretaries who have no idea about molecular biology. The developers have tried to make this game that it was interesting to everyone. And the result of the game may well become the basis for the Nobel Prize and save the lives of thousands of people.
The program is released in versions for Win and Mac. A 53 MB distribution can be downloaded after registration.
In fact, all gamers in our world spend billions of man-hours on games that are useless for humanity like WoW, Counter-Strike or Solitaire. At the same time, they could use intelligence more efficiently: for example, folding proteins on the screen of their monitor. This is also interesting in its own way.
David Baker, one of the game's developers, a professor of biochemistry, truly believes that talents live in the world somewhere who have an innate ability to calculate 3D models of proteins in their minds. Some 12-year-old boy from Indonesia will see the game and will be able to solve problems that even a supercomputer cannot do. Who knows, maybe such people really exist?
')
Each protein (in the human body there are more than 100,000 species) is a long molecule. Predicting into which intricate form this molecule will collapse under certain conditions (and whether it can even curl into any stable form) is a task of the highest degree of complexity. Computer modeling is a resource-intensive process, but at the same time critical in pharmaceuticals. Indeed, without knowing the shape of a protein, it is impossible to model its properties. If these properties are useful, then proteins can be synthesized and on their base to make new effective drugs, for example, for the treatment of cancer or AIDS (the Nobel Prize is guaranteed in both cases).
Currently, hundreds of thousands of computers in a distributed computer network are working on calculating the model of each protein molecule, but scientists from Washington University offer another way: not stupid busting through all the options, but brainstorming through a computer game. The number of options is reduced by an order of magnitude, and the supercomputer will find the correct folding parameters much faster.
Everyone can play the three-dimensional "entertaining" Fold.it: even children and secretaries who have no idea about molecular biology. The developers have tried to make this game that it was interesting to everyone. And the result of the game may well become the basis for the Nobel Prize and save the lives of thousands of people.
The program is released in versions for Win and Mac. A 53 MB distribution can be downloaded after registration.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/25215/
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