add gp120 animation?
I think it would be helpful to add a little animation showing how gp120 changes shape after it bonds with CD4, which allows it to bind to coreceptors.
Suggestion
In the game, all cells infected with HIV die though in reality that is not always the case. Some cells become “virus producing factories” that keep producing more and more virions. To make the game more realistic and to add another element, once a player collected enough points maybe in a specified amount of time, the player could unlock one of these “factories”, making it easier to produce more virions. This could be another level.
Show more
great game! add more levels!
I found this game very fun and informative, but would love to see potentially another level added about the specifics of transcription (how single stranded RNA is copied to produce double stranded DNA) and then how that becomes integrated into the host cell’s DNA. This could be a great way to learn about base pairing as well as how HIV DNA moves from the cytoplasm to the nucleus and integrates.
Show more
Tang: Great game! Fun graphics
I would suggest adding a time clock below noting that in real life, the replication of HIV viruses operates on a different timeframe and different scale as the one played in the game. An added observation of HIV proliferation and how it operates in a real life from a dormant to active stage.
CCR5 evolution to CXCR4
I think a good improvement for this simulation could be to have some kind of progression in the co-receptor infection process. Right now, from level 1 it feels as though CCR5 and CXCR4 co-receptors are being infected at the same rate when, in reality, HIV evolves to recognize CXCR4 cells after originally infecting CCR5 co-receptors. Since this is an important step in the evolution of HIV to AIDS, I think it would be important to include in the simulation.
Show more
T-Cells Need to Produce more Virions!!!!!🔥🎉🏴
There are many problems with the model, but here is one improvement I think you should make to improve the accuracy of the game. The T-Cells should depict the production of more HIV, because the game makes it seem like HIV can be easily killed by the immune system, while in fact t-cell’s production of many virions is what makes HIV so deadly.
Show more
Informative and Fun Game
This game is a great interactive model to show how HIV works to infect T cells. The graphics are good and the tutorial is informational and understandable. To make this game more realistic, perhaps increasing the amount of cells available at a given moment would emphasize how the HIV virion just bumps into cells with a CD4 receptor and binds to them rather than specifically seeking them out.
Show more
Fusion
Well many components of HIV infection couldn’t properly be shown and still have the game remain usable, I do think it would be relatively easy for you to include the fusion step more explicitly. Instead of making it seem like the virion just pops right into the cell, it would be more accurate to show it slowly fusing into it.
Show more
great interactive model!
i think adding a level or game mode between levels 1 + 2 to make the HIV life cycle more apparent would be both fun and informative. perhaps integration or reverse transcription. overall, this interactive model is helpful in understanding the larger concepts of how HIV infects the cell
Fun & informative—could be more detailed!
In the game, the extent of the replication process that is shown is pretty minimal— the HIV virus binds, enters the nucleus, and then morphs into more virions. This isn’t inaccurate, but is very simplified. It would be interesting to get a sense of how this replication occurs; namely, reverse transcriptase converts HIV RNA to DNA, and then enters the cell nucleus and combines with the cell’s DNA, etc. the game could show this process, or make the player convert RNA to DNA in some kind of matching game, as a “second level.”
Show more
A Suggestion
To make the game more realistic, yet still playable, I would want the game designers to not only include T-cells, but also include other host cells that HIV can infect. Macrophages and dendritic cells, along with T-cells, can be infected by HIV.
Fun and informative
CD4 Hunter is a fun and informative app. I got to learn a little more about the cell biology of HIV infection. I can’t wait to see more apps like this!
Heard about this through TWIV
Heard you guys on TWIV and thought I would comment. I enjoyed hearing how this was developed and the rationale behind it. Run and frustratingly difficult.
