Online gamers help Scientist

     Today was a little different for me and my news article hunting. My daughter showed me an article that she found rather interesting. The title read; online gamers crack aids enzyme puzzle. It is believed that this is the first time “gamers” were used to help solve a scientific problem of this sort. According to the article,  Foldit  is a video game in which groups of competing gamers unfold chains of amino acids. The makers assisted Pharmacologists by making an accurate 3d puzzle game of an enzyme. Scientist used this ability to unfold or decipher the structure of an enzyme of an AIDS like virus.

     The title of the article is what grabbed my attention. At first, I thought  to myself there is no way a gamer could crack a code to the AIDS virus and even slightly chuckled to myself. This had to be a joke or an advertisement for a new game. As I read on, I realized that this was reality. I was awestruck by the possibilities this.

    Before reading this article, it was hard for me to take gamers seriously. On a daily basis, I watch my son and his friends hoot and holler as they kill zombies, wreck cars, or create imaginary worlds. Never did I associate video games with science. As I read, I had several questions: What made them decide to use this particular game? How did the scientist find out about the game Flipit? Were the game developers compensated? Unfortunately, the article was unable to answer any of those questions.

    As I read on, my opinion began change. According to the article, scientist have been stumped for a decade and unable to deciphered the enzyme structure of an AIDS like virus. Once the pharmacologist and game developers got together, it took them three weeks to create an accurate model of the enzyme. This was important because knowing the structure of the enzyme will enable scientist to create a possible drug to prevent the disease.

    It is amazing to me on how much technology has advanced over the years. This seemingly small step could lead to advances in cancer research and prevention and cure for diseases other then AIDS. The future may even hold the cure for the common cold. Only time will tell.