Summary of the science
It is important to know what proteins look like in 3D as their structure is important in determining their function. However, the structures of many proteins have yet to be identified. The Lehner Lab has developed a novel method for finding out the structures of many proteins which uses fewer techniques and apparatus and may potentially allow for function to be inferred also.
About the research
The Lehner Lab aim to understand how molecular changes affect biological systems. They take a quantitative and predictive approach to this, using large sequence libraries to model how variations at the DNA level affect protein structure and how this affects function and how well they perform this function. Part of their work is concerned with identifying the three-dimensional structures of previously unknown protein domains. They have developed a method of generating high-resolution characterisations of proteins by measuring the activity of mutant variants of proteins in question.
About the illustration