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Proteins are the heavy-lifters of biochemistry. These beefy molecules act as building blocks, receptors, processors, couriers and catalysts. “Proteins are the molecular machines that power all life on Earth,” explained Mark Sherwin, a physics professor at UC Santa Barbara. Naturally, scientists have devoted a lot of research to understanding and manipulating proteins.
A team led by researchers at UC Santa Barbara, including Sherwin, has made strides in addressing one of the grand challenges of modern science: recording proteins in motion in a lifelike environment. The authors discuss their technique in Angewandte Chemie a journal of the German Chemical Society. The approach could revolutionize our understanding of how proteins do their jobs and guide the design of proteins for specific purposes.