Dr. David Oppenheimer’s video on protein movement has won a national BioArt Award from FASEB, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. Dr. Oppenheimer’s video shows how, although protein structures are often shown as static images, in real life they twist and wiggle. Proteins and all other biological molecules are formed of individual atoms (red is Oxygen, grey is Hydrogen, blue is Carbon, and purple is Nitrogen), which can rotate around their bonds creating this movement. This flexibility is essential for protein function. The protein profilin, shown here, is found in many types of organisms, from yeasts to humans. It regulates the assembly of structural proteins in the cell, which together form the cell’s cytoskeleton.
YouTube link: 2017 FASEB BioArt Winner: Structural protein in motion