The four-story, $77 million Molecular Engineering & Sciences building opened this month, just south of Gerberding Hall. And unlike old labs of the past, which tended to be dark and isolating, this one is filled with sunlight and designed with collaborative spaces for scientists to work together across a range of disciplines.

Baker said the most promising discoveries are licensed to private companies to carry on the research and find out if the proteins really do what researchers thought they would do. “We do simple things, then license the results to a pharmaceutical company,” he said.

Of those 400 proteins being investigated each month, about 25 to 50 a month are inspired by an unusual source: Online gamers playing Foldit, a free protein-folding game (www.fold.it), that was developed in collaboration between the UW’s molecular biology department and the UW’s Center for Game Science, Baker said.

About 230,000 players worldwide have downloaded the game, and use intuition and spatial reasoning to try to design proteins with stable, efficient designs.

(Source: futurenow321)