Protein Folding

Proteins are an essential part of the biochemical machinery in all organisms. It is know how the information in the genetic code (DNA) is translated into protein, and, furthermore, we have a vast knowledge about protein structures and protein function. What remains to be solved is, however, how the information in the amino acid sequence of proteins codes for the unique three dimensional structure of a protein; this is known as the "protein folding problem". Solving this "protein folding problem" would potentially result in great advances within the medical and biotechnology industry.
Interestingly, it turns out that, in addition to understanding the actual translation of a linear sequence into a unique structure, the chosen pathway of folding seems to modulate the properties of the protein. In the Protein Folding project we perturb the folding of our model proteins in various ways while studying the effect on folding rates, pathways and properties.