Recently developers of the online game Foldit, which is a crowd-sourcing puzzle game designed to have users help contribute to important scientific research, had added a binder which has challenged players to help defeat the coronavirus.
The starting structure was designed by Steven Pietcsh, and is having players design an antiviral protein that could bind to the COVID-19 virus, spike its protein, and eventually disrupt the viral infection.
The game has been around since 2008 and many users, especially medical patients such as those suffering from cancer, Alzheimer’s, and AIDS/HIV, have signed on to assist in helping find answers. With this new pandemic, one could ask themselves if they can really play a part in find a cure.
In 2011, users actually helped play a part in finding a solution for the AIDS virus, in which researchers were said to have difficulty solving. With that comes the actually reality of users being able to help researchers find a solution for the COVID-19 virus as well. Seeing as there are numerous users already trying, one can only hope something good comes from it.
