Welcome Andreas Petrides: The New Foldit Developer at OMSF

We are excited to announce that Andreas Petrides is joining us at OMSF as the new Foldit Software Engineer. Andreas brings a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective to our team, making him a valuable addition to the Foldit project.

Andreas holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering and Computer Science from Northeastern University and has over three years of experience in full-stack development. His technical proficiency spans across multiple programming languages, including C++, Python, JavaScript, and Ruby. Andreas has spent the last few years working on Foldit. This experience coupled with his strong background in software development, positions him perfectly to lead the integration of Foldit into web and mobile environments.

Prior to joining us, Andreas worked for the Foldit team via UMass Dartmouth, where he contributed to the development and optimization of the Foldit game client. Among his accomplishments during this time were the addition of several new tools such as Trim, Untrim, and Refine Density. Refine Density is a B-factor refinement tool that performs molecular replacement on large electron density maps in a matter of seconds. Trim and Untrim allow Foldit players to focus on smaller regions of proteins, which in turn has enabled the game client to render larger protein structures, enhancing the overall gaming experience for users and allowing Foldit to tackle more challenging problems.

In his new role, Andreas will be leading the effort to integrate Foldit into web and mobile platforms. The goal of this expansion is to help Foldit reach a broader audience, particularly students using Chromebooks and iPads. He will also assist in maintaining the Foldit game client and web server, supporting scientific efforts by posting puzzles, and engaging with the Foldit community through blog posts, forum interactions, and participation in Foldit's Discord channel. Andreas’s position is supported through the 2025 fiscal year with the goal of positioning Foldit to be more competitive for cyber infrastructure grants and other national foundation and philanthropic support. 

We are confident that Andreas's expertise and dedication will drive Foldit's mission forward, harnessing the power of citizen science to advance protein design research. Join us in welcoming Andreas Petrides and reach out to him directly at apetrides32 [at] gmail [dot] com for any questions or conversations about Foldit and how it can help you in your classroom or research!


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