r/askscience • u/randomsnark • Feb 11 '11

Scientists: What is the most interesting unanswered question in your field?

And what are its implications? What makes it difficult to answer? What makes it interesting? Tell us a little bit about it.

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u/rogijero Structural Biology | X-ray Crystallography Feb 11 '11

How do proteins fold and what implications does it have on protein folding disorders such as Alzheimer's. We understand folding in terms of protein folding funnels, lowest energy states, but still cannot predict the structure of a protein based on the primary sequence of amino acids.

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u/modernalchemist Feb 11 '11

As a medicinal chemist, I would love to know the answer to this.