Wake Forest University professor: "Can a video game cure cancer?"

Samuel Cho, an assistant professor in physics and computer science, and his students use graphics processing units found in video games to explore the biomolecular processes in the cell and take on challenges, including a cure for cancer.

For his most recent published study, Cho simulated the folding and unfolding of a critical RNA molecule component of the human telomerase enzyme. This enzyme lengthens DNA strands during cell division and only exists in cancerous cells. It’s what makes tumors continue to grow. Knowing how human telomerase works could lead to cancer therapies that essentially obliterate tumors, Cho said. Read more.