Icon representing a puzzle

Beginner Puzzle: Coronavirus

Closed since over 1 year ago

Beginner

Summary


Created
May 07, 2024
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! This is a Beginner puzzle for new players that have joined Foldit in the last 6 months.

Top groups


  1. Avatar for L'Alliance Francophone 100 pts. 13,128
  2. Avatar for SHELL 2. SHELL 60 pts. 13,031
  3. Avatar for Street Smarts 3. Street Smarts 33 pts. 13,008
  4. Avatar for chemiosmotic 4. chemiosmotic 17 pts. 13,003
  5. Avatar for That's a Wrap! 5. That's a Wrap! 8 pts. 12,972
  6. Avatar for Team China 6. Team China 4 pts. 12,499
  7. Avatar for BCHM 3P02 Spring 2024 7. BCHM 3P02 Spring 2024 1 pt. 11,753
  8. Avatar for CSUMB Bio Otters 8. CSUMB Bio Otters 2 pts. 11,753
  9. Avatar for groupe 9. groupe 1 pt. 11,753
  10. Avatar for CH4110 Fold it! 10. CH4110 Fold it! 1 pt. 11,753

  1. Avatar for louverture 531. louverture Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  2. Avatar for Kircsi21 532. Kircsi21 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  3. Avatar for cheloria 533. cheloria Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  4. Avatar for smokedchicken 534. smokedchicken Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  5. Avatar for syd_stanley 535. syd_stanley Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  6. Avatar for JulieHoang_Brock 536. JulieHoang_Brock Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  7. Avatar for jane123 537. jane123 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  8. Avatar for U202343294 538. U202343294 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  9. Avatar for browning152 539. browning152 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  10. Avatar for isalev2024 540. isalev2024 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753

Comments