Gamers are helping find COVID-19 vaccines

Researchers developing COVID-19 vaccines are looking to gamers for help.

Stanford biochemist Rhiju Das is getting help — from gamers.

Das is developing COVID-19 vaccines based on RNA — an innovative approach currently making the media rounds thanks to Moderna.

RNA vaccines have their advantages: namely, the speed and scale at which they can be made. But there are challenges, too. RNA is a fragile molecule, degrading rapidly outside of a cell. If the RNA can be kept cold, it will stay stable, but the costly infrastructure required to distribute it may hinder efforts to get the vaccine to the millions or billions of people who will need it.

Developing COVID-19 vaccines that can be kept stable in a wider range of temperatures will be crucial to rolling them out, especially in developing countries and hotter climates.

To aid in his efforts to create a more stable RNA molecule — chronicled by NOVA and summarized in Stanford’s medical blog Scope — Das is turning to a video game.

Eterna is a puzzle game co-created by Das. Players attempt to design novel RNA molecules, folding them into idiosyncratic structures to accomplish different tasks. By clicking base pairs and — quite satisfyingly — folding up your RNA molecule, you can help design molecular medicines.

Gamer’s newest task? Helping to fight COVID-19.

“The coronavirus is an RNA machine,” the announcement for Eterna’s new initiative says. “Let’s take it on.”

Eterna players from around the globe will be focusing on puzzles revolving around SARS-CoV-2’s RNA biology, RNA diagnostics, and antiviral therapies, as well as developing COVID-19 vaccines with mRNA vectors.

“We’re trying to recruit — potentially — millions of people to come play a video game,” Das tells NOVA. “The solutions they are providing very well could become a medicine that is injected into billions of people.”

According to Scope, gamer’s answers have already inspired the publication of more than 20 scientific articles.

Eterna players are being joined by an army of citizen scientists working on developing COVID-19 vaccines and antivirals. The University of Washington is crowdsourcing potential antiviral seeds using their protein folding game Foldit, while Folding@home is recruiting spare computer power tout le monde to the same end.

We’d love to hear from you! If you have a comment about this article or if you have a tip for a future Freethink story, please email us at [email protected]

Related
New antiviral shortens COVID-19 by 1.5 days
People taking simnotrelvir, a new antiviral treatment for COVID-19, felt almost immediate symptom relief and got better 1.5 days faster.
World’s first “self-amplifying” vaccine approved in Japan
The approval of the first saRNA vaccine could signal a new era in how we prevent and treat everything from infections to cancer.
HIV drug shows promise against COVID-19 and MERS
Based on promising lab tests, the HIV drug cobicistat could be an effective antiviral treatment for COVID-19.
How AI played an instrumental role in making mRNA vaccines
Years before Moderna created an effective mRNA vaccine against COVID, the company put into place AI systems to accelerate the research process.
Where are the universal coronavirus vaccines?
Universal coronavirus vaccines that protect against all known variants of COVID-19 — and ones that don’t exist yet — are closer than ever.
Up Next
sleep during the coronavirus
Subscribe to Freethink for more great stories