Icon representing a puzzle

Beginner Puzzle: Coronavirus

Closed since 7 months ago

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 shiratama 231. shiratama Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  2. Avatar for ocksock 232. ocksock Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  3. Avatar for Bahia 233. Bahia Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  4. Avatar for srivengadesh01 234. srivengadesh01 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  5. Avatar for dv43543 235. dv43543 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  6. Avatar for CuteLittleKettle 236. CuteLittleKettle Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  7. Avatar for niks 237. niks Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  8. Avatar for vike2 238. vike2 Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  9. Avatar for Ronny 239. Ronny Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753
  10. Avatar for zhivdead 240. zhivdead Lv 1 1 pt. 11,753

Comments