Icon representing a puzzle

Beginner Puzzle: Coronavirus

Closed since 12 months ago

Beginner

Summary

Created
February 13, 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 Street Smarts
    1. Street Smarts
    100 pts. 12,999
  2. Avatar for L'Alliance Francophone 2. L'Alliance Francophone 56 pts. 12,988
  3. Avatar for BIOB101 - Discover Biology 3. BIOB101 - Discover Biology 29 pts. 12,665
  4. Avatar for Rechenkraft.net 4. Rechenkraft.net 14 pts. 11,987
  5. Avatar for Go Science 5. Go Science 6 pts. 11,939
  6. Avatar for Team China 6. Team China 2 pts. 11,904
  7. Avatar for PS, we are Benelux Digital 7. PS, we are Benelux Digital 1 pt. 11,753
  8. Avatar for FAU Chemistry Club 8. FAU Chemistry Club 1 pt. 11,753
  9. Avatar for cool sicence 9. cool sicence 1 pt. 11,753
  10. Avatar for University of British Columbia (UBC) 10. University of British Columbia (UBC) 1 pt. 11,753
  1. Avatar for U202242538 241. U202242538 Lv 1 6 pts. 11,753
  2. Avatar for avalambb5 242. avalambb5 Lv 1 6 pts. 11,753
  3. Avatar for BubbleAngel 243. BubbleAngel Lv 1 6 pts. 11,753
  4. Avatar for marioh 244. marioh Lv 1 5 pts. 11,753
  5. Avatar for Quynh111 245. Quynh111 Lv 1 6 pts. 11,753
  6. Avatar for levicovi 246. levicovi Lv 1 6 pts. 11,753
  7. Avatar for emmagarajszki 247. emmagarajszki Lv 1 6 pts. 11,753
  8. Avatar for ak2025 248. ak2025 Lv 1 6 pts. 11,753
  9. Avatar for Marina Diz 249. Marina Diz Lv 1 6 pts. 11,753
  10. Avatar for kajabiokjemi 250. kajabiokjemi Lv 1 6 pts. 11,753

Comments