Enabling bioengineers to design new molecular machines for
nanotechnology applications is one of the possible outcomes of a
study by University of Montreal researchers that was published
in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology today. The scientists
have developed a new approach to visualize how proteins
assemble, which may also significantly aid our understanding of
diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, which are caused
by errors in assembly. "In order to survive, all creatures, from
bacteria to humans, monitor and transform their environments
using small protein nanomachines made of thousands of atoms,"
explained the senior author of the study, Prof. Stephen Michnick
of the university's department of biochemistry. "For example, in
our sinuses, there are complex receptor proteins that are
activated in the presence of different odor molecules. Some of
those scents warn us of danger; others tell us that food is
nearby." Proteins are made of long linear chains of amino acids,
which have evolved over m