Foldit

I actually am familiar with the program Foldit because we used it on one of my biology classes. I think it's a really awesome "game." Proteins are essential to life and one of the biggest problems biologists face is being able to figure out how proteins fold and which structures are the best. Proteins are an integral part of many diseases and thus could be potentially part of the cure. Even small proteins, consisting of hundreds of amino acids, can fold in a numerous ways because there are so many degrees of freedom. So, when you have human proteins that can consist of thousands of amino acids it is very difficult, time consuming, and expesive to find the best structure. The knowledge that can be gained from this program is exponential because players can actually help design new proteins that can help prevent or treat illnesses.