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<div align="center"><font size=5 color="#0000FF"><b>Viernes
24</font><font size=5> de agosto - 13 hs<br><br>
</b>Aula de Seminarios INQUIMAE-DQIAQF (3º piso Pab. II) <br><br>
<br>
</font><font size=6><b>Prof. Peter Wollyness <br>
</font><font size=4><i>Centre for Theoretical Biological
Physics</i></font><font size=6> <br>
</font><font size=4><i>University of California at San Diego<br><br>
</i></font><font size=5>"Energy Landscape Theory of
Proteins"<br><br>
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Abstract:<br>
Twenty-five years ago, how proteins folded into organized
structures on the basis of their sequence was a great mystery. By
characterizing the energy landscapes of proteins with tools from the
statistical mechanics of disordered systems like spin<br>
glasses, a “new view” of the folding process became possible.
Energy landscape theory provided an incentive to pursue heroic new
experiments and to carry out difficult computer simulations addressing
protein folding mechanisms.<br>
Many aspects of folding kinetics revealed by these studies can be
quantitatively understood using the simple idea that the topography
of the energy landscape is that of a “rugged funnel”.<br>
Energy landscape theory provided a quantitative means of
characterizing which amino acid sequences can rapidly fold.
Algorithms based on energy landscape theory have been used to
successfully design novel sequences that fold to a given structure in the
laboratory.<br>
Energy landscape ideas have begun to transform the prediction of
protein structure from sequence data from being an art to being a
science. The success of energy landscape- based algorithms in predicting
protein structure from sequence will be<br>
highlighted. While there is still much to learn about folding mechanisms
and much work to do achieving universally reliable structure prediction,
many parts of what used to be called “the protein folding problem” can
now be considered solved.<br><br>
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