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POPSHow to fold Proteins Proteins are complex molecules, and understanding the way they can fold using distributed computing, in the unused cpu load of home computers, can spread the load and research in more detail , both the way proteins fold, and the effects of incorrect folding. A prime example of such an instance in in the proteins known as prions, which with a wrong fold can be one of the contributing factors in Alzheimer's disease. The foldingathome network is the biggest computer in the world, with calculations done by the petaflop
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POPSScientists Identify Prion's Infectious Secret But prions have another characteristic that enables them to wreak havoc. They recruit other, properly folded proteins into misforming along with them, a process Lindquist calls a "conformational cascade." In many organisms, this conformational cascade creates long fibers called amyloids. (The brains of animals that have died from prion infections are literally packed with amyloid clumps.)
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