University-backed computer game hopes to crowdsource coronavirus cure

Puzzle game gives the general public the chance to digitally recreate life-saving proteins – which could then be manufactured by the University of Washington’s research institute

The University of Washington has released a computer game which hopes to crowd-source a cure to the deadly coronavirus.

The new puzzle game offers scientists and members of the general public the chance to digitally build a protein that could block the virus from entering human cells.

Any particularly promising ideas generated by the game’s players will be tested and potentially manufactured by the university’s Institute for Protein Design in Seattle.

The game has been released on Foldit, a 12-year-old website designed by the University of Washington’s Center for Game Science, which currently has more than 200,000 registered players.

On Foldit, the game’s description reads: “In recent weeks, researchers have determined the structure of the 2019 coronavirus spike protein and how it binds to human receptors.”

“If we can design a protein that binds to this coronavirus spike protein, it could be used to block the interaction with human cells and halt the infection!”

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases is mounting, with more than 50 people in the UK now diagnosed with the infection.