3 June 2014 Scientist Chat Official Question Thread

Started by inkycatz

inkycatz Lv 1

Researchers at Dartmouth College are trying to determine the structure of the Id2 protein, and have asked for Foldit's help! Id2 is a regulatory protein that has been implicated in some brain cancers. The N- and C-terminal tails of Id2 are very important for the protein's function, but the structure of these regions is unknown. Help determine the structure of this Id2's tail regions in its symmetric dimer form!

We are also pleased to announce with the launch of this puzzle, we will be hosting a Scientist Chat with the researchers from Dartmouth who have helped make this happen.

Date: 3 June 2014
Time: 1400 Pacific/1700 Eastern/2100 GMT
Have questions but cannot attend? Well, you're in the right place.

The lines are open, caller, you're on the air!

Bruno Kestemont Lv 1

I wonder how you can know the structure of the HLH domain without the terminal regions.

Do we work on the complete protein? or on a subset of it?

Do you believe that the terminal could also include sheets?

Concerning dimers: each branch should correctly fold separately. However, we experienced that the link between the dimers gain a lot of (foldit) points in symmetric puzzles (the branches of some of our top symmetric puzzles could certainly not be separated without losing a lot of points). I wonder how our results would be different separating the elements or working on the all dimer.

(I suppose that the chat result will be available on line afterwards. i cannot attend).