HIV/AIDS: Weird science helping bid to defeat virus

More than 33 million people are infected with HIV globally, and while combination antiretroviral therapy is enabling people to have near-normal life spans, a cure has so far evaded researchers.

IRIN/PlusNews lists three recent developments in HIV research:

Computer gamers - The authors of a recent study published in the journal, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, say they challenged players of a computer game known as Foldit - where gamers "fold" proteins in order to understand more about their structure - to produce accurate models of the protein, Mason-Pfizer Monkey Virus, an enzyme that is vital in the development of a simian-borne virus similar to HIV.

Proteins are critical for the virus to replicate inside the body; the more scientists understand about the structure of proteins, the better equipped they are to design drugs to fight disease-related proteins.

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