Battling Disease Through Structural Understanding
Small molecules called proteins are involved in every aspect of our lives, from digestion to helping our hearts and brains function efficiently. Life as we know it on earth could not exist without proteins, however either increase or decrease in proteins work efficiency can cause serious health problems. Some of these health problems include paralysis, Alzheimer’s disease, heart failure, and cancer. Scientists improve the understanding of protein’s ability to carry out its tasks by being able to visualise them. Due to the extremely small size of protein, microscopes are not sufficient to view them, instead specialist visualisation techniques/equipment have been developed. Good knowledge of protein structure allows for design of either more efficient proteins or even smaller molecules which can inhibit protein function.
Joanna Zukowska
Department of Life Sciences
Collaborators
Kyle Gregory, Otsile Mojanaga, Adam Robinson, Professor Ravi Acharya, Department of Life Sciences
Category: Health and Wellbeing
Research that is addressing health and wellbeing issues that people face.
Battling Disease Through Structural Understanding
Small molecules called proteins are involved in every aspect of our lives, from digestion to helping our hearts and brains function efficiently. Life as we know it on earth could not exist without proteins, however either increase or decrease in proteins work efficiency can cause serious health problems. Some of these health problems include paralysis, Alzheimer’s disease, heart failure, and cancer. Scientists improve the understanding of protein’s ability to carry out its tasks by being able to visualise them. Due to the extremely small size of protein, microscopes are not sufficient to view them, instead specialist visualisation techniques/equipment have been developed. Good knowledge of protein structure allows for design of either more efficient proteins or even smaller molecules which can inhibit protein function.
Joanna Zukowska
Department of Life Sciences
Collaborators
Kyle Gregory, Otsile Mojanaga, Adam Robinson, Professor Ravi Acharya, Department of Life Sciences
Category: Health and Wellbeing
Research that is addressing health and wellbeing issues that people face.