Surprising Twist to Protein Misfolding Discovered, Rice University Study

An effort to develop software that unravels the complexities of how proteins fold is paying dividends in new findings on how they misfold, according to researchers at Rice University. The study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by chemist Peter Wolynes and his team at Rice's BioScience Research Collaborative should be of particular interest to those who probe the roots of degenerative diseases associated with the aggregation of amyloid fibers in the body. These include Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and Type 2 diabetes.