The Protein Folding Problem

Recent advancements on the ultimate problem in biology

The key to finding the cure to diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s lie in a fundamental biomolecule; the protein. Biologists and physicists alike have been trying to solve the protein folding problem for over half a century with no real progress until recently. This article will give insight into how proteins fold, why it’s so difficult to predict how it folds, and solutions that can be designed around an accurate protein folding algorithm, as well as various other topics that may be of interest.

What are proteins?

Proteins are really complex macromolecules that are made of strings of hundreds or thousands of amino acids. They perform every biological function in your body and are absolutely key in every organism. From fighting diseases to providing structure for cells, proteins play every role in your body and in every other living organism. Our DNA contains all the information for creating all these proteins, in the form of the nucleotides: A, C, G, and T. Then, DNA is transcribed to mRNA which is an intermediary molecule in the process of protein creation. In mRNA, the T’s are replaced with U’s, when transcription occurs. Finally, mRNA gets transcribed into the 20 different amino acids that make up proteins.