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Structure of Designer Proteins


EMSL Project ID
16722a

Abstract

Protein design is one of the great challenges of modern molecular biology, promising to provide entirely new biological activities together with an unprecedented understanding of protein structure and stability. Achieving atomic level resolution in the computational design of a protein structure remains a challenging problem despite much recent progress. Rigorous experimental tests are needed to improve protein design algorithms, yet studies of the structure and dynamics of computationally designed proteins remain very few. We are using NMR to study the structures and dynamics of several proteins designed in the Baker laboratory to fold into new structures, or that are designed to re-capitulate existing structures. These studies are providing needed information that is being used to identify limitations in the design algorithms and therefore to improve them.

Project Details

Project type
Capability Research
Start Date
2006-04-04
End Date
2006-11-21
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Gabriele Varani
Institution
University of Washington

Team Members

David Baker
Institution
University of Washington