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A calm warm lab with shelves and a microscope, a large colourful ribbon model of a folded protein on a stand, a teenager turning the model to study its shape

🎓 Ages 15–18 · Grades 9–12 · Structural Biology & Biochemistry

ShapeForge

A protein’s shape follows from its sequence — which residues coil, which lie flat, which hide from water — and its shape is where its function comes from. Read a real segment, predict what it will do, then watch a deterministic engine work it out from the same chemistry the AlphaFold era automated.

∿ Open the first lab 📝 Learn the concepts

Start here

What shape does it fold into? A chain folds its segments into coiling α-helices, flat β-sheets, or loops. Predict a segment’s shape from its residues, then let the engine work out its helix vs sheet propensity. What buries in the core? A folded protein hides its water-hating residues in an oily core and keeps its charged ones on the surface. Predict how many tuck in, then let the engine score each on the Kyte-Doolittle scale. One letter changed A single DNA change swaps one amino acid — and can reshape a protein. Predict what a substitution does to the surface, then compute the hydropathy jump. Sickle-cell is one such letter. Concept practice 16 kits from the amino-acid beads and the backbone to helices, sheets, the hydrophobic core, active sites, prediction confidence (pLDDT), and real structures. See it in 3-D Rotate real, precomputed protein structures (public-domain PDB data) and colour them by shape — the helices, sheets, and loops you predicted, now in three dimensions. Opt-in extra; the fold details work on any device.
Concept kits — 16 kits of structure & biochemistry

From the amino-acid beads and the backbone to helices, sheets, the hydrophobic core, active sites, prediction confidence (pLDDT), and real structures. Progress stays on this device.

Kit 1: Amino acids as beads 25 questions Kit 2: The backbone 25 questions Kit 3: Helix or sheet 25 questions Kit 4: Secondary structure 25 questions Kit 5: Overall fold class 25 questions Kit 6: Hydrophobic core 25 questions Kit 7: Solvent accessibility 25 questions Kit 8: Membrane-spanning 25 questions Kit 9: Domains that move independently 25 questions Kit 10: Active sites 25 questions Kit 11: Lock and key (binding) 25 questions Kit 12: One letter changed (sickle cell) 25 questions Kit 13: Disorder (no fixed shape) 25 questions Kit 14: Confidence in a predicted structure (pLDDT) 25 questions Kit 15: Real structures (hemoglobin and others) 25 questions Kit 16: Capstone — predict shape to job 25 questions

Meet the cast — then teach one

Not mascots — each one shows one structural idea in action. On the Teach page you help one of them read a predicted structure honestly.

  • The Curator — keeps the structure library and its provenance (the mentor)
  • Helix — coils into a spiral — the α-helix
  • Sheet — lies flat and pleated — the β-sheet
  • Hydro — hides from water — buries in the core
  • Sicklewin — one letter changed → a changed shape → a disease

🎓 Open the case coach

How it works

ShapeForge is about the reasoning, not memorizing terms, and a wrong prediction is just a place to learn. Every answer is worked out by a small deterministic engine from established biochemistry (the Kyte-Doolittle and Chou-Fasman scales) — no folding server needed. A rich 3-D structure viewer is planned as an optional add-on; today’s labs use a clean 2-D schematic so they run on any school device. Your progress is saved only on this device: no accounts, nothing sent anywhere.

More ways to play

Quiz Arena Shape Run Confidence Ledger

Part of the protein-structure pathway

You came from ShapeForge. This is haemoglobin β — the protein whose one changed letter causes sickle-cell disease. Residue 7 is highlighted; tap it to read the model's confidence there.

Continue the protein-structure pathway

Open in the 3-D viewer → (opens foldcommons.org · in English)

What next? Pick a door

Chosen from what this app is about. What you open is remembered on this device only.