Blog posts
2018
Protein design partition tournament
Introducing a design tournament for Foldit players. Part three of a three-part blog series about the problem of protein design.
Partition functions
A partition function describes the energy landscape of a protein. Part two of a three-part blog series about the problem of protein design.
The problem of protein design
Discussion of energy landscapes, and how they complicate protein design. Part one of a three-part blog series about the protein design problem.
2017
X-ray diffraction
X-ray diffraction experiments and the first crystal structure of a Foldit design.
Protein crystallization
Growing a crystal of a Foldit player-designed protein, for crystal x-ray diffraction.
Foldit design update - Part 2
Some promising lab results from recently-tested Foldit designs!
Foldit design update - Part 1
Discussion of protein backbone quality and recent improvements in Foldit designs.
Protein folding pathways
A Foldit player’s question about protein folding pathways.
More about the Blueprint Tool
More details about the recently-introduced Blueprint Panel in Foldit.
2016
Blueprint panel
Introducing a new tool to Foldit: the Blueprint Panel.
Ramachandran map
Introducing a new tool in Foldit: the Ramachandran Map.
Sheets and barrels
A discussion of beta-sandwiches and beta-barrels, and some design strategies for sheet-rich proteins.
2015
Player designs enter the wet lab
Foldit players explore protein folds beyond helical bundles.
2014
The story of a Foldit design
A walkthrough of the different experiments we use to test designed proteins in the lab
Improvements in Foldit designs
We showcase some of the first Foldit designed proteins to pass computational analysis