Swiss Structures

Justin Hession Photography /1 in September 2006, it led to a complete rethinking of ABC transporter structure - and the retraction of five earlier papers on related structures.2 (A software error had led Geoffrey Chang, the young US researcher who had published those earlier articles, to inadvertently mistake the handedness of the molecule.)

Locher, a steely character with short dark hair and rimless glasses, suggests that Chang's blunder might have been a result of rushing. Even if you are racing to the synchrotron, you must still adopt an almost obsessive caution, Locher says. "Perhaps you have to be a bit of a nerd," he laughs. "You have to be the kind of guy who would stand in front of a dart board and not leave until you throw a triple twenty."

In 2006 and 2007, Locher's publication was just one of nine that the institute's structural...

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