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Computer-Designed Proteins Recognize and Bind Small Molecules
vinces99 writes "Computer-designed proteins that can recognize and interact with small biological molecules are now a reality. Scientists have succeeded in creating a protein molecule that can be programmed to unite with three different steroids. The achievement could have far wider ranging applications in medicine and other fields, according to the Protein Design Institute at the University of Washington. 'This is a major step toward building proteins for use as biosensors or molecular sponges, or in synthetic biology — giving organisms new tools to perform a task,' said one of the lead researchers, Christine E. Tinberg, a UW postdoctoral fellow in biochemistry."
"Computer-designed proteins that can recognize and interact with small biological molecules are now a reality." very much reminds me of alpha-Amanitin, the super-potent poison of the death cap responsible for the vast majority of mushroom related deaths.
In fact, many if not most potent poisons are of the "binds much stronger to some vitally important molecules/enzymes than what should go there" kind.
The speed of light does not stop astronomers from studying space. Actually, we'd know much less about our universe if light did not have that speed limit. It functions as a sort of time machine, or at least a window back in time, that we wouldn't otherwise have that lets us see the universe as it was early in it's history. Things like the red shift of faraway galaxies can be correlated with distance and provide a sense of scale that would otherwise be much more difficult to get. The fact that light has a finite speed is a very good thing for astronomy.
But on a site that is supposed to cater to educated people (nerds per the masthead), why not use a more technical description instead of one you might find in USA Today or some other media directed to a 6th grade education? Even the word target is much more accurate than recognize.
The term "recognize" is used all the time in the technical literature when discussing how proteins bind to, well, pretty much anything - DNA, small molecules, or other proteins. In fact, the abstract for the actual Nature article uses the phrase "molecular recognition". You may find this unacceptably colloquial, but it's common usage in the field at this point.
(Yes, I am a biochemist.)