PhastPhred Prince
Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 6017 Location: Northwest AR (USA)
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:51 am Post subject: |
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http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2011/09/how-online-gamers-solved-aids-mystery.html
How online gamers helped UW researchers solve AIDS mystery
Greg Lamm on Saturday, September 17, 2011, 9:35am PDT
Quote: | Playing Foldit, gamers helped researchers solve a problem that has stumped them for more than a decade: How to configurate the structure of a retrovirus enzyme related to AIDS...
While the problem had befuddled researchers for years, it took gamers only a few days to solve it. The results suggest that humans and computer models can learn from each other in real-time....
Solving the structure of the retrovirus enzyme is a big leap forward, said researchers, because the enzyme is in a class called retroviral proteases that plays a critical role in how the AIDS virus matures and multiplies. Now that researchers know what the enzyme looks like, there is hope that it will speed up the development of anti-AIDS drubs that can block the enzymes." |
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