午夜福利1000集合

What you need
A computer with internet access 鈥榮 freely available software

THIS week, instead of folding my laundry, I decided to fold some proteins. I joined more than 4 million citizen scientists around the world and lent my computer power to , a project running powerful simulations of proteins to help us understand these large molecules and the role they play in disease.

Proteins are the machines that our bodies use to get things done, and the way they work is dependent on their ability to fold into different shapes. By understanding this at the level of the atoms within the molecule, we can manipulate the process.

To participate in , you need a computer with internet access. You then download and install free software from foldingathome.org. When you are ready, click 鈥渟tart folding鈥� to donate your computing power to the project. If you are competitive like me, you can check a leader board to see how many protein simulations you have contributed to compared with other people. You can also form a team and compete as a group.

The work could help us understand conditions that arise when proteins fold incorrectly (see the pictured misfolded prion proteins above), such as Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, Parkinson鈥檚 disease and motor neuron disease. It could also inform the development of new drugs that work to prevent proteins from misfolding in the first place.

In light of the pandemic, has shifted its focus to proteins related to the coronavirus, including the surface 鈥渟pike鈥� protein that the virus uses to invade cells. Simulations have already revealed one way in which the spike protein may change shape to avoid the virus being detected by the body鈥檚 immune system.

Analysing all of the possible movements of a protein requires such an enormous amount of computing power that only a few standalone supercomputers are up to the task. Even then, they are pretty slow.

鈥榮 software gets around this by splitting up each protein simulation into tiny fragments, each of which are run on individual devices in the homes of volunteers around the world. These mini-simulations are then combined together to acquire a full picture of how the proteins move. In March this year, exceeded 1.5 ExaFLOPS of computing power, which is more than 10 times the power of Summit, the world鈥檚 fastest public supercomputer.

I haven鈥檛 made it to the top of the protein-folding leader board yet, but I do have a certificate confirming that I helped power nine protein simulations. I like the idea that I have contributed to research that could improve our understanding of disease, without even leaving my living room. Unfortunately, I am yet to get a certificate for folding laundry.

These articles are posted each week at

Citizen science will be back again in four weeks鈥� time