by Playfuls Staff |
14th February 2007
A U.S. research team has won first place in an international competition of scientists sponsored by the [more] European Molecular Biology Laboratory.
The Florida State University researchers use powerful biophysical and computational tools to study the structure and interactions of complex biomolecules such as proteins and DNA.
The Florida State team of Professor Huan-Xiang Zhou and postdoctoral researcher Sanbo Qin ranked first in the latest round of Critical Assessment of Predicted Interactions, a semiannual competition co-sponsored by the European Biotechnology Institute.
Determining three-dimensional structures of biomolecules is slow and time-consuming work. Therefore, scientists around the world are working to develop ways to use computers to predict such structures.
In each round of the assessment, research groups submit structural predictions for a specific biomolecule; the predictions are evaluated by comparing them with the actual structure as determined through experimentation. By design, the experimental structure is not known to the predictors. In the latest round, one of Zhou and Qin's structures scored the best among 348 predictions submitted by 36 research groups from around the world.
© 2007 UPI
