For many of us “protein” is the key element of a food order. However, beyond your preferred choice of meats or plant-based alternatives, proteins encompass a large class of complex biomolecules whose chemical structure is encoded in our genes. Proteins have critical functions in living cells, they help repair and build body tissues, drive metabolic reactions, maintain pH and fluid balance, and keep our immune systems strong.
To perform their important functions many proteins have a dynamic molecular structure capable to adopt multiple conformations. For a long time, scientists have suspected that proteins don’t change shape at random. Instead, they seem to move according to deep, slow rhythms-like a building that sways gently in the wind rather than shaking…