Online gamers discover structure of AIDS-like retroviral enzyme in three weeks — after it stumped scientists for a decade

The enzyme, a Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (MPMV) retroviral protease, was accurately modeled by Foldit players in well under a month, and opens a window on developing antiretroviral drugs which may treat AIDS. According to the New York Times, the clever game, which crowd-sources the considerable spatial ingenuity of gamers and harnesses it to medical research, works like this,

Foldit begins with a series of tutorials in which the player controls proteinlike structures on a computer display. In the game, as structures are modified, a score is calculated based on how well the protein is folded. Players are given a set of controls that let them do things like “shake,” “wiggle” and “rebuild” to reshape the backbone and the amino acid side shapes of a specific protein into a more efficient structure.