Structural Biology
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Designing better membrane proteins by embracing imperfection
Brussels, 14 April 2026 — Scientists at the VIB–VUB Center for Structural Biology have uncovered a counterintuitive principle that could reshape how membrane proteins are designed from scratch: sometimes, making a protein less stable helps it fold correctly. In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers demonstrate that introducing carefully placed ‘imperfections’, a strategy known as negative design, enables synthetic membrane proteins to fold and assemble efficiently in artificial membranes.
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