FEATURE
Proteins by Design
Proteins by Design

New functional proteins are being built on advances in modeling and structure prediction
BY DAVID BAKER

REPROGRAMMED: This is the structure of the endonuclease I-MsoI computationally redesigned to target a new DNA site. The redesigned enzyme displays altered site specificity with a level of target discrimination comparable to that of wild type (see ref. 8). Such methods are currently being applied to more ambitious targets, such as disease-gene hot spots.
Courtesy Justin Ashworth

Imagine having the power to create a brand new protein - a biosensor for any small molecule, say, or a novel enzyme - on demand. It's not pure fantasy. Computational structural biology is poised to put this power into our hands.

Along with a team of research groups around the world, we have begun designing novel proteins and folds from scratch, computing amino acid sequences that will fold to create enzymatic activities...

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