Icon representing a puzzle

Beginner Puzzle: Coronavirus

Closed since about 1 year ago

Beginner

Summary

Created
January 09, 2025
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
    1. L'Alliance Francophone
    100 pts. 13,260
  2. Avatar for METU-BIN 2. METU-BIN 47 pts. 13,138
  3. Avatar for BIOF215 3. BIOF215 19 pts. 13,020
  4. Avatar for BIOTF345 4. BIOTF345 7 pts. 12,987
  5. Avatar for uneRx 5. uneRx 1 pt. 11,753
  6. Avatar for BCH3025 S25 6. BCH3025 S25 2 pts. 11,753
  7. Avatar for BPS_2025 7. BPS_2025 1 pt. 11,753
  8. Avatar for Street Smarts 8. Street Smarts 1 pt. 11,753
  1. Avatar for nalun lnwza 481. nalun lnwza Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  2. Avatar for signev 482. signev Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  3. Avatar for ysson 483. ysson Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  4. Avatar for Fikayooo 484. Fikayooo Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  5. Avatar for ahabitableexoplanet 485. ahabitableexoplanet Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  6. Avatar for Bennon 486. Bennon Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  7. Avatar for LWSmith 487. LWSmith Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  8. Avatar for Chakrita 488. Chakrita Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  9. Avatar for Alkazan48 489. Alkazan48 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  10. Avatar for Ylluminare 490. Ylluminare Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753

Comments