Gamers solve puzzles on Foldit to design proteins
A a game called Foldit is enabling citizen scientists to design brand new proteins, and to participate in protein engineering discovery. It's a free online game challenging gamers to design proteins from scratch. Brian Koepnick, a researcher with the Institute for Protein Design, says their latest paper In Nature shows the players can do so successfully. Gamers can now help protein researchers develop novel vaccines or cancer therapies. The next step is challenging players to tackle these applied problems. Susan Kleinfelter, a Foldit player, explains why the game interests her so much.