Beyond proteins.
Increased understanding of the biological principles of protein structure and folding, combined with advances in protein-synthetic chemistry, should not only allow us to borrow from biology but also to depart from it and so produce protein-like, but non-protein, molecules and molecular devices. However, radical departures from protein-like forms into more-robust and truly novel 'smart' polymers and materials first require a solution to the protein-folding problem using only fundamental physicochemical principles. Any such practical solution may not come from raw computing power alone but rather from a deeper understanding of topological principles.
Computational Biology Center, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, 30 Saw Mill River Road, Hawthorne, NY 10523, USA. robsonb@us.ibm.com
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Robson
D001709:Biotechnology / Q000639:trends; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008958:Models, Molecular; D018716:Molecular Mimicry; D017510:Protein Folding; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D013237:Stereoisomerism
D011506:Proteins