Andrej Šali’s lab at the University of California San Francisco is using computation grounded in the laws of physics and evolution to study the structure and function of proteins. The aim is to improve and apply methods for:
- predicting the structures of proteins;
- determining the structures of macromolecular assemblies;
- annotating the functions of proteins using their structures.
This research enhances the impact of genome sequencing, structural genomics, and functional genomics on biology and medicine.
The lab’s goal is to contribute to a comprehensive structural characterization of biomolecules ranging in size and complexity from small peptides to large macromolecular assemblies, by integrating data from diverse biochemical and biophysical experiments. The solution to this problem is the Integrative Modeling Platform (IMP) software, which provides an open source C++ and Python toolbox for solving complex modeling problems, and a number of applications for tackling some common problems in a user-friendly way.
