New programme that simulates protein movements

Proteins are molecules involved in most of the biological processes that take place in our bodies. They have to move in order to fulfil many of their functions. For example, they open or close to keep and transport the molecules inside them. Until now, costly methods were the only available option for studying these movements: supercomputers were needed and the calculations took many days. The department of mechanics of the Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao has now developed a shorter method. On the basis of the similarity in the way robots and proteins move, the theorems and algorithms used for studying and simulating the mechanisms have been adapted. That way, it is possible to find out more quickly and with the necessary precision how protein movement functions and facilitate the means for influencing the processes in which these molecules participate. The CIC bioGUNE centre is collaborating in this project, thus proving that bioscientific research and mechanical engineering are not that far removed from each other.

Further information: cordis.europa.eu