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210: Hold Me Tightly

Closed since over 16 years ago

Intermediate

Summary

Created
October 16, 2009
Expires
Max points
100
Description

Sure, streptavadin has been the most popular biotin binding protein so far. However, we don't think it has to be that way and we want to knock biotin off its high horse. In this puzzle, we took a cellular retinoic-acid-binding protein and we are re-designing it to bind biotin instead of its native ligand. You will want to expand the hydrogen bonding network around the nitrogen containing end of biotin and pack the rest as best you can. The ligand score (obtained by pressing "tab" over the ligand) is a very good indicator of how well your ligand is bound. Bind biotin today, save the world tomorrow?

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Comments

beta_helix Staff Lv 1

we are trying to think of a way of rewarding those who followed the spirit of the puzzle, without taking anyone's points away.

I think Austin will go through the solutions and award bonus points to those players who scored well while ONLY following the spirit of the puzzle description.

so if you were doing well and then decided to go crazy with the helix then you got your points already, and if you refrained from the crazy helix you will get bonus points as well.

we will try to do this as quickly and as fairly as possible.

austinday Lv 1

Seems that I've underestimated the amount of time it takes to pull and analyze the results from the fold it server. It might take a few more days to fix the scores. I think the way it'll be though is that I'll find the "cutoff" score under which there aren't any large helix insertions, and treat all those scores as a subset which will be scored again. (Giving the top scorer in that subset a max of 100 points). That way, people who worked the helix insertion angle already got their points from the initial score, and people who followed the spirit of the puzzle are scored as if those helix insertions weren't there. Everyone's happy, right?

CharlieFortsConscience Lv 1

The idea of subsetting solns and rescoring, is an interesting one. Once you've worked through 210, are you going to do the same for 192 and 174? And after that, will you comb through the feedback pages and pick up on the 'lost score' posts and reanalysis those of us who lost hours of work when our scores failed to register? I, mcurtis, mat747, Madde and all the others would be very grateful…

Redrawing the lines of combat, and handing out sweeties, (which is basically what you're doing) is an unwise decision. Helix-chasing is nothing new, but it has raised it's ugly head ever since the largely mutatable freestyle puzzles were introduced. 192 and 174 are the first ones that come to mind but there have been others, and they generate huge frustration. But the problem with them is not how players respond to the prospect of easy points, the fault lies with the puzzle design. There were several things wrong with 210, the end-date was set to Dec 12th, there was a ligand issue (I was playing it with the ligand from 195 at one point) and someone forgot to set a limit to additions. It should never have gone out in that state, and once it did it should have been pulled. I pushed the score to the stratophere in order to get it taken down, not for the points.

There are things we love about FoldClub, and there are things that drive us mad. But we learn to live with them. With the greatest of respect to Mark, there are many many players that have lost hours of work whilst we effectively beta test each new update, but at the end of the day you can only play your own game, in your own way. Changing the rules is not going to solve the problem. Proof-reading puzzles before release will. But, if 210 is going to provoke a policy change perhaps it's time to open up a forum piece and let everyone have their say. I'll even go first…