Game "Online" Break the AIDS Puzzle

Thousands of game players solve puzzles related to AIDS treatment instructions. It only took ten days for them to answer the riddle surrounding the enzyme that has been occupied for years by scientists.

Computer games can be played online which is called Foldit. Is combined with a collaborative game Tetris and encourage his players to double the amount of protein to achieve intricate shapes. The players can use various tools to twist, shake, and interactively change the shape of the protein.

"This is the smallest piece of the puzzle AIDS relief," said Firas Khatib, an expert in Biochemistry at the University of Washington, who chaired the team of authors of scientific papers Foldit project development. The results published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, and called the players the game, which incidentally is not a biologist, in his credit.

This achievement is a milestone in the science community (citizen science), which includes Internet users in large-scale scientific projects that can not be solved easily computer.

"Humans have the ability to negotiate spatial, a capability that has not mastered the computer very well," said Seath Cooper, University of Washington computer scientist who headed the design and development Foldit. "These games provide a framework that can strengthen the ability of computers and humans," Seath said.

For more than a decade, an international team of scientists trying to discover the molecular structure of the enzyme from AIDS-like virus found in resus monkeys. This enzyme is known as retroviral protease, which plays an important role in the spread of the virus. If the structure can be revealed, scientists will be able to design drugs to inhibit the spread of the virus.

Approximately 57,000 players participate in solving the challenge game Foldit. They get points based on the internal energy of three-dimensional protein structures determined by the laws of Physics. Each time a player who managed to find a more elegant structure that reflects the energy of these molecules, their value will rise. (National Geographic Indonesia / Ni Ketut Susrini)