Placeholder image of a protein
Icon representing a puzzle

Beginner Puzzle (<150): Coronavirus

Closed since almost 6 years ago

Beginner Beginner Beginner Beginner

Summary

Created
March 03, 2020
Expires
Max points
100
Description

Design a protein binder against coronavirus! The starting structure shows how the coronavirus spike protein binds to a human receptor protein. The coronavirus protein (in gray) is mostly frozen, except for the orange and blue sidechains at the binding site. The binding site of coronavirus sticks to the human protein (in color), and this allows the coronavirus to infect human cells. We want to design a new protein that can bind to coronavirus more tightly than the human protein! A tight binder could block the normal coronavirus-human interaction, and might be used as an antiviral drug against coronavirus! Refold and mutate the starting structure to increase your score and improve binding against coronavirus!



START HERE:

If you are new to Foldit, here are detailed instructions to get you started:

http://fold.it/portal/node/988864

_____________________________


If you want to fold proteins, know that there are many ways to play and this variety is the main value of Foldit :

- try all puzzles not only "Beginners" ones,

- fold first the ones you like the most,

- try it by yourself to understand what works and what doesn't,

- ask for tips in global chat when you think you don't understand something.

Top groups

  1. Avatar for SETI.Germany 21. SETI.Germany 39 pts. 13,195
  2. Avatar for SOU Biochemistry CH455 (2020) 22. SOU Biochemistry CH455 (2020) 37 pts. 13,194
  3. Avatar for The Daydreamers 23. The Daydreamers 35 pts. 13,193
  4. Avatar for Wabash College Biochemistry 24. Wabash College Biochemistry 33 pts. 13,184
  5. Avatar for Segment is locked 25. Segment is locked 31 pts. 13,178
  6. Avatar for Hold My Beer 26. Hold My Beer 30 pts. 13,158
  7. Avatar for Penny-Arcade 27. Penny-Arcade 28 pts. 13,152
  8. Avatar for ICSP Bio 2020 2 28. ICSP Bio 2020 2 26 pts. 13,142
  9. Avatar for Chem420-EC 29. Chem420-EC 25 pts. 13,131
  10. Avatar for BIOL 4030 Winter 2020 30. BIOL 4030 Winter 2020 24 pts. 13,129
  1. Avatar for Maxcat1 7131. Maxcat1 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,758
  2. Avatar for DareBear089 7132. DareBear089 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,758
  3. Avatar for bpagnotti 7133. bpagnotti Lv 1 1 pt. 11,758
  4. Avatar for otto2020 7134. otto2020 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,758
  5. Avatar for lullaby.of.time 7135. lullaby.of.time Lv 1 1 pt. 11,758
  6. Avatar for Ryo257 7136. Ryo257 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,758
  7. Avatar for javier1801 7137. javier1801 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,758
  8. Avatar for Cr3at1ver 7138. Cr3at1ver Lv 1 1 pt. 11,758
  9. Avatar for Zoe.dng 7139. Zoe.dng Lv 1 1 pt. 11,758
  10. Avatar for Mr_VBS 7140. Mr_VBS Lv 1 1 pt. 11,758

Comments

bkoep Staff Lv 1

The solutions from this Beginner puzzle are incompatible with other non-Beginner puzzles,. Players may not load solutions from this puzzle into other coronavirus puzzles.