Hi everyone,
You’ve probably heard of Folding@Home, a crowdsourced drug discovery programme for various diseases.
Although their website lists hepatitis C under Science > Diseases, a search for “hepatitis” on their forum and Discord returns very few results. Therefore, I assume hepatitis is not a priority for them at the moment.
My question for the @ScienceExperts: is there a need for a similar project dedicated to hepatitis B? The entire Folding@Home codebase is available on GitHub so anyone can roll their own.
Hi @leonfeng,
This feels more like a question best answered by the structural researchers (@john.tavis, @mwoodso4, @daniel.bradley @joewang). My understanding is that folding@home provides a way of figuring out the atomic structure and configuration of proteins. In Hep B, the major structural proteins are pretty well defined (and now, as @john.tavis had mentioned last year - the polymerase as well The Hepatitis B polymerase: A difficult problem begins to crack - #13).
For me, there could be potential in the HBx protein (whose full-length structure is still a mystery). However, some drugs against HBx have been tested in clinical trials with little effect.
Hep B isn’t like a lot of other viruses. Even if you shut the proteins down, Hep B persists until you stop taking the medication. So it’s not only the structural analysis of the proteins that we need, but something more holistic to involve the cells, immune system, etc. together to clear the infection.
Hope this makes sense,
Thomas
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Hi @leonfeng,
I’m unfamiliar with the “Folding@Home” utility. However, the premier ab initio folding program out there is AlphaFold by Google’s DeepMind project. It is free to use, and they have folded all the unique proteins in the Uniprot database and made them available for free. There are 2 versions of AlphaFold out there, AlphaFold 2 which is unrestricted and free, AlphaFold 3 which is more robust and allows folding with common protein cofactors like Mg++ or Zn++. However, the license for AlphaFold 3 prohibits its use for the docking studies needed for drug discovery.
We’ve used AlphaFold 2 extensively in our protein engineering and drug discovery efforts against HBV’s polymerase. Its been a HUGE help! We’ve also used it for an effort with HBx, but that led nowhere as most of X is disordered, and its diversity among the different genotypes led us into a dead end. I also know that other labs in the HBV field use AlphaFold regularly also.
Overall, AlphaFold is not as good as traditional wet-bench structural analyses programs in many cases, in part because it cannot give precision measurements about the error in the structural models. However, it is a huge asset when studying molecules without structures or that are intractable in traditional methods such as X-ray crystalography or cro-EM. I’m a huge fan of it!
John.
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Hi everyone,
I am exploring how technology can be harnessed to improve the management and research of Hepatitis B. I am interested in innovative tools / apps that can assist with tracking symptoms; managing medication / connecting with healthcare providers.
I have noticed that crowdsourced research initiatives like Folding@Home have made significant impacts on drug discovery for various diseases. For those interested; their GitHub repository can be found here: Folding@Home GitHub sfmc guide .
Do you think there’s potential for a similar crowdsourced project dedicated to Hepatitis B? What kinds of digital platforms / tech solutions have you found useful in managing your condition / connecting with support networks?
I would love to hear any recommendations / success stories!
Thanks in advance for your insights! 
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Hi @rosshaden
Thanks for sharing your idea. Monitoring and managing Hep B is an issue, so it would be great to see what research and development you can bring to tackle it.
If this develops into a research project, please submit it to next year’s Research Showcase. There are great prizes to be won and it is a great way for the expert and non-expert community to give feedback. Have a look at this year’s Research Showcase as an example of the great work from the community members.
All the best,
Sumaya
Hi @rosshaden,
Just adding your post to this existing thread.
TT
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