Meiler Lab works with computer game to allow citizen scientists to assist in research

Posted by daviskd2 on Friday, December 17, 2021 in News.

Meiler lab researchers, Thomas Scott, research scientist/engineer, and Rocco Moretti, research associate professor, like to think of science as a game. Their favorite game to play is Foldit, a crowdsourced computer game enabling citizen scientists to assist protein folding research by competing with one another to achieve the best score possible for a folded structure. Foldit is available to players of all levels in different research categories, including prediction, design, symmetry, CASP roll and electron density.

The researchers, in collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, have been successful in introducing small molecule drug design to Foldit. With their success, the obvious next step was to extend Foldit’s research potential to incorporate small molecule drug discovery.

Players now have access to small molecule drug design tools and can tackle recurring drug design puzzles. This change also comes with an updated user interface in order to provide players with the best experience possible while competing not only in the new drug design puzzles but also the protein folding puzzles. Thomas and Rocco explain the update in Lab Update #27: Foldit gets a makeover.

The Meiler lab researchers are currently running a series of small molecule puzzles targeting the von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor protein (VHL). To learn more, and to play the game, check out drugit.org. ~K.D.D