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. 2019 Mar;47(2):133-139.
doi: 10.1002/bmb.21208. Epub 2019 Jan 14.

Creating custom Foldit puzzles for teaching biochemistry

Lorna Dsilva  1 , Shubhi Mittal  1 , Brian Koepnick  2 , Jeff Flatten  3 , Seth Cooper  1 , Scott Horowitz  4
Affiliations

Creating custom Foldit puzzles for teaching biochemistry

Lorna Dsilva et al. Biochem Mol Biol Educ. 2019 Mar.

Abstract

The computer game Foldit is currently widely used as a biology and biochemistry teaching aid. Herein, we introduce a new feature of Foldit called "custom contests" that allows educators to create puzzles that fit their curriculum. The effectiveness of the custom contests is demonstrated by the use of five distinct custom contests in an upper-level biochemistry class. The new custom contest feature can be implemented in classes ranging from middle school to graduate school to enable educators to best complement their current curriculum. © 2019 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 47(2): 133-139, 2019.

Keywords: Biochemistry; puzzles; web-based learning.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Custom contest creation page. Contest name and description are required, as are source puzzle files (.pdb or .zip) and contest dates.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Contest homepage, including link to join the contest. As contestants join, their user names and top Foldit scores will appear under the heading “Registered Contestants”. The edit link can be used to change contest dates, puzzle name, and puzzle description.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Example custom contest puzzle used in class. In this puzzle, the mini-GroEL chaperone [10] (right) is placed in proximity to a protein client (left). By resetting the puzzle the students could toggle between the fully unfolded state and native state of the client as starting points for the puzzle.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Example top (A, B) and bottom (C, D) scoring solutions from class. (A & C) Chaperone puzzle top and bottom scoring solutions, respectively. The chaperone is rendered in blue, and the folding protein rendered in magenta for hydrophobic residues and green for non-hydrophobic residues. (B & D) RNA TAR puzzle top and bottom scoring solutions, respectively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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