Icon representing a puzzle

Beginner Puzzle: Coronavirus

Closed since 9 months ago

Beginner Beginner Beginner Beginner Beginner Beginner Beginner

Summary


Created
July 03, 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 100 pts. 13,430
  2. Avatar for Go Science 2. Go Science 41 pts. 13,400
  3. Avatar for L'Alliance Francophone 3. L'Alliance Francophone 14 pts. 13,205
  4. Avatar for Bioqué? 4. Bioqué? 4 pts. 13,052
  5. Avatar for CHEM1210/1020 TTU 7. CHEM1210/1020 TTU 1 pt. 11,753

  1. Avatar for ocksock 201. ocksock Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  2. Avatar for Bahia 202. Bahia Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  3. Avatar for phyyon2 203. phyyon2 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  4. Avatar for testo11 204. testo11 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  5. Avatar for Justin Walker 205. Justin Walker Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  6. Avatar for shiratama 206. shiratama Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  7. Avatar for zwb 207. zwb Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  8. Avatar for srivengadesh01 208. srivengadesh01 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  9. Avatar for Dunya.taleb 209. Dunya.taleb Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  10. Avatar for CuteLittleKettle 210. CuteLittleKettle Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753

Comments