Game Players Solve Molecular Puzzle that Stumped Scientists for a Decade

After puzzling over a science problem for 10 years, researchers took their problem to an online game called Foldit. Players had the answer in less than 2 weeks.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on September 19 2011

For more than ten years, a group of researchers has been working to crack a puzzle that could halt the spread of an AIDS-like virus. They haven’t been able to find the solution, so they crowdsourced it, using an online collaborative science game called Foldit. Game players found the answer in less than two weeks.

The puzzle centers around the molecular structure of a protein-cutting enzyme known as a retroviral protease. Researchers knew that if they could determine the structure, they’d be able to design drugs that could prevent rhesus monkeys from becoming infected with a particular virus that bears a strong similarity to AIDS. “This is one small piece of the puzzle in being able to help with AIDS,” Firas Khatib, a biochemist at University of Washington, told MSNBC’s CosmicLog.

However, there were so many variables in cracking the code that, despite years of work, the scientists knew they wouldn’t be able to determine the structure on their own. So they turned to an online game called Foldit, which allows players to manipulate virtual molecular structures that follow the same roles as actual molecules do. More than 236,000 players—amateur scientists and professionals alike—have already registered for the site.

The researchers didn’t think that the Foldit players had a shot at solving the puzzle, no matter how many of them there were. “This was really kind of a last-ditch effort,” said Khatib. They were soon proved wrong: A team of Foldit players, working together, had found the answer within less than 10 days.

The discovery demonstrates the astonishing potential of using crowdsourcing to solve complex problems. “Foldit shows that a game can turn novices into domain experts capable of producing first-class scientific discoveries,” Zoran Popovic, director of University of Washington’s Center for Game Science, said in a news release.

Most impressively, the players didn’t even ask for name credit when a journal article discussing their findings was published yesterday. They were listed simply as “Foldit Contenders.”

Filed under: Health and Wellbeing, Science,

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