to a study published in the journal eLife. By incorporating a minigame within the popular video game Borderlands 3, 4.5 million gamers participated in reconstructing the evolutionary histories of microbes, ultimately leading to a more precise understanding of the relationships between microbes in the human gut. This collaborative effort between gamers and scientists has the potential to significantly enhance our knowledge of the microbiome and improve the AI programs that will be utilized for future research. Leveraging the gaming community and video game technology has the ability to greatly accelerate scientific research, as evidenced by this groundbreaking study. The findings of this research are detailed in the journal eLife. 4.5 million gamers worldwide have contributed to advancing medical science by participating in a minigame within the popular video game, Borderlands 3. Through their participation, they have helped to reconstruct the evolutionary histories of microbes, leading to a more refined estimate of the relationships between microbes in the human gut. This collaboration between gamers and scientists has the potential to significantly enhance our understanding of the microbiome and improve the AI programs used for this research in the future. This study, published in the journal eLife, demonstrates the significant impact that leveraging the gaming community and video game technology can have on advancing scientific research.According to a new report from Nature Biotechnology, 4.5 million gamers globally have contributed to the advancement of medical science by participating in a minigame within the popular video game Borderlands 3. Their participation has resulted in a more accurate understanding of the relationships between microbes in the human gut. This collaboration is expected to significantly enhance our knowledge of the microbiome and improve future AI programs used for this type of research.The evolutionary relationships of bacteria have been traced with the help of players participating in the mini-game “Borderlands Science” within the video game “Borderlands 3”. These players have contributed to the understanding of over a million different types of bacteria found in the human gut, some of which are important for our health. This new information represents a significant advancement in our knowledge of the microbiome. Players align rows of tiles representing genetic building blocks of microbes, which has allowed them to complete tasks that even the most advanced computer cannot do.algorithms that have not been solved yet.
The McGill University researchers led the project, working in partnership with Gearbox Entertainment Company, an acclaimed interactive entertainment company, and Massively Multiplayer Online Science (MMOS), a Swiss IT company that links scientists to video games. The project also received support from the expertise and genomic material provided by the Microsetta Initiative, overseen by Rob Knight of the Departments of Pediatrics, Bioengineering, and Computer Science & Engineering at the University of California San Diego.
Humans enhance current algorithms and establish a foundation for future algorithms that have not been solved yet.The future is bright for gamers who have not only improved DNA sequence analysis, but also paved the way for better AI programs. “We didn’t know whether the players of a popular game like Borderlands 3 would be interested or whether the results would be good enough to improve on what was already known about microbial evolution. But we’ve been amazed by the results,” says Jérôme Waldispühl, an associate professor in McGill’s School of Computer Science and senior author on the paper.The Borderlands Science players have gathered five times more data about microbial DNA sequences in just half a day than the Phylo game had collected over a 10-year period. Attila Szantner, an adjunct professor in McGill’s School of Computer Science and CEO and co-founder of MMOS, came up with the idea of integrating DNA analysis into a commercial video game with mass market appeal. According to Szantner, with almost half of the world’s population playing video games, it is crucial to find new creative ways to extract value from the time and brainpower spent gaming.
“Borderlands Science illustrates the potential of collaboration between the gaming industry and its communities to address significant contemporary issues,” said Randy Pitchford, founder and CEO of Gearbox Entertainment Company. “Our developers were enthusiastic about involving the millions of Borderlands players worldwide in our creation of an engaging in-game experience to showcase how skilled Borderlands players can generate valuable scientific data that surpasses what non-interactive technology and mediums can achieve. I am proud that Borderlands Science has emerged as a prominent and impactful initiative.”
One of the most successful citizen science projects in history has opened up new opportunities for similar projects in future video games. This has expanded the positive impact that video games can have on the world.”
Linking Microbes to Health and Lifestyle
The trillions of microbes that live in our bodies play a vital role in maintaining human health. However, these microbial communities can change over time due to factors such as diet, medications, and lifestyle choices.
Due to the large number of microbes involved, scientists are still in the early stages of being able to identify which microbes are beneficial and which are harmful.Organisms can be impacted by certain conditions, and in turn, can impact those conditions. This is why the researchers’ project and the gamers’ results are incredibly significant. “We anticipate being able to utilize this information to connect specific types of microbes to our diets, aging process, and various diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and Alzheimer’s, which we now know microbes play a role in,” says Knight, who also leads the Center for Microbiome Innovation at UC San Diego. “Evolution serves as an excellent guide to function, so having a more accurate tree that shows the relationship between our microbes will provide us with a more precise understanding.”
“We have 4.5 million people participating in scientific contributions. This result belongs to them as well, and they should take pride in it,” Waldispühl explains. “It demonstrates that we can combat the fear or misunderstandings that the public may have about science and begin to create communities that collaborate to progress knowledge.”
“Borderlands Science provided an amazing chance to involve citizen scientists in a new and significant issue, utilizing data produced by a different large citizen population.Daniel McDonald, the Scientific Director of the Microsetta Initiative, stated that the results of the science project demonstrate the immense value of open access data and the potential of inclusive practices in scientific research. The reference for the journal is as follows:
Roman Sarrazin-Gendron, Parham Ghasemloo Gheidari, Alexander Butyaev, Timothy Keding, Eddie Cai, Jiayue Zheng, Renata Mutalova, Julien Mounthanyvong, Yuxue Zhu, Elena Nazarova, Chrisostomos Drogaris, Kornél Erhart, David Bélanger, Michael Bouffard, Joshua Davidson, Mathieu Falaise, Vincent Fiset, Steven Hebert, DThe following authors contributed to the study: Hewitt, Jonathan Huot, Seung Kim, Jonathan Moreau-Genest, David Najjab, Steve Prince, Ludger Saintélien, Amélie Brouillette, Gabriel Richard, Randy Pitchford, Sébastien Caisse, Mathieu Blanchette, Daniel McDonald, Rob Knight, Attila Szantner, and Jérôme Waldispühl. The study titled “Improving microbial phylogeny with citizen science within a mass-market video game” was published in Nature Biotechnology in 2024 and can be accessed using the DOI link 10.1038/s41587-024-02175-6.