X-Ray Laser Can Solve Protein Structures From Scratch

[PantherX]

Found this very interesting publication:

A study shows for the first time that X-ray lasers can be used to generate a complete 3-D model of a protein without any prior knowledge of its structure...

Source -> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 200506.htm

Seems that it might eventually be complementing the work done by F@H and others studying protein folding.

[bruce]

I'm not quite sure what's new in that announcement except maybe the use of a laser. X-ray crystallography is the traditional method of determining the shape of a protein provided it can be crystallized. FAH's goal is determine the pathway by which a protein can mis-fold, not the final shape. Many other projects seek only to determine the final shape, not the "why" a mis-fold occurs.