Big Data Approach to Predict Protein Structure

Proteins Are a Basis of Life – Malfunctions May Lead to Alzheimer’s Disease – Repair Requires the Protein Structure to Be Known – Experimental Method Is Cumbersome

Nothing works without proteins in the body, they are the molecular all-rounders in our cells. If they do not work properly, severe diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, may result. To develop methods to repair malfunctioning proteins, their structure has to be known. Using a big data approach, researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now developed a method to predict protein structures.

In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), the researchers report that they succeeded in predicting even most complicated protein structures by statistical analyses irrespective of the experiment. Experimental determination of protein structures is quite cumbersome, success is not guaranteed. Proteins are the basis of life. As structural proteins, they are involved in the growth of tissue, such as nails or hairs. Other proteins work as muscles, control metabolism and immune response, or transport oxygen in the red blood cells.

For more details see Press Release 037/2017.

mex, 28.03.2017