He tracked down a researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Germany who had just mapped the 3-D structure of the proteasome, which was shaped like a six-ringed cylinder.

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Information about each layer is transmitted from the computer to a laser beam, which melts the PCL into a 3-D structure.

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In 2011, Foldit players needed only 10 days to produce an accurate 3-D model of the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus, a protease whose structure had stumped scientists for 15 years.

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He has explored crystal growth, and developed, with a specialist in nature-related algorithms, a 3-D program mimicking the way crystals actually grow over millions of years (with this particular program, he and the scientists he has been working with made virtual crystals grow directly on a ring-like structure on their computer, almost instantly, then manufactured them with a 3-D printer).

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That 3-D data then got plugged into a solid-modeling program where engineering parameters such as material, thickness and structure were assigned to the shape.

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