Foldit

Beginner Puzzle (<150): Coronavirus

Closed since almost 6 years ago

Summary

Created: April 15, 2020
Expires: May 27, 2020 at 23:00 UTC
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.