Cryogenic (frozen) protein structures are central to understanding function and developing drugs. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have created an algorithm to reveal when freezing the proteins may create “artifacts,”—errors that cause misleading results. The research appeared recently in Angewandte Chemie International Edition and highlighted the importance of water networks in protein-ligand interactions. The findings challenge the common view of assuming that well-resolved cryogenic water positions are both precise and accurate.Cryogenic (frozen) protein structures are central to understanding function and developing drugs. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have created an algorithm to reveal when freezing the proteins may create “artifacts,”—errors that cause misleading results. The research appeared recently in Angewandte Chemie International Edition and highlighted the importance of water networks in protein-ligand interactions. The findings challenge the common view of assuming that well-resolved cryogenic water positions are both precise and accurate.Read More