Can we save lives by playing computer games?

Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a game (currently in Beta stages) which enables heavy contribution in a certain scientific field - proteins - the key for biological mysteries.

Proteins are involved in almost all of the processes going on inside the human body. They break down food to power your muscles, they send signals to your brain which again controls your body and they also speed up chemical reactions. It's absolutely vital in a huge variety of tasks.

In this game, named "Fold It!", you are going to fold and shape proteins to satisfy several conditions. It might sound boring, but it's actually a fun puzzle experience. You can also chat with your fellow puzzle solvers. Best of all - your gameplay can actually contribute to curing diseases.

With a decent broadband connection, it took less than 5 minutes before we had this game set up and running. It's availible for Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X (10.4 or later). And the installer was only 52,7 MB. It does, however require registration, as you will be uploading testimonial data to their servers.

It's absolutely free.
If you want to give it a try, visit the project homepage.

Screenshot of Fold It!

Question and Answer
Q: But why folding and shaping?
A: Even though proteins are just a long chain of amino acids, they don't like to stay stretched out in a straight line. The protein folds up to make a compact blob. Every kind of protein folds up into a very specific shape - the same shape every time. The unique shape of a particular protein is the most stable state it can adopt. This shape/structure specifies the function of the protein.

Q: What disease mysteries will I be contributing to solving?
A: Just to name a few: HIV/AIDS, Cancer and Alzheimer's.

Q: Isn't there any computer programs to fold and shape these proteins for us?
A: Yes, there are. But they are not efficient enough. This game will be collecting data about your puzzle solving strategies. Based on data from thousands of users, programmers can optimize and teach these strategies to computers.

Q: What are the future plans of this sofware?
A: Since proteins are part of so many diseases, they can also be part of the cure. Over the summer, there are plans for adding new functionality to the game to allow users to design brand new proteins that could help prevent or treat important diseases.