Proteins are the workhorses of cells, adopting conformations that allow
them to set off chemical reactions, send signals and transport
materials. But when a scientist is designing a new drug, trying to
visualize the processes inside cells, or probe how molecules interact
with each other, they can't always find a protein that will do the job
they want. Instead, they often engineer their own novel proteins to use
in experiments, either from scratch or by altering existing molecules.
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From left to right: Salk scientists Haiyan Ren, Lei Wang, and Zheng Xiang.
Image: Courtesy of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies |
Credit: http://www.salk.edu