Latest
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Rolling out new jellies
The basic parts of proteins — helices, strands and loops — can be combined in countless ways. But certain combinations are trickier than others. This week scientists from the IPD, along with collaborators in Brno and Santa Cruz, published the first-ever example of designed non-local beta-strand interactions. Beta-sheet proteins carry out critical functions in biology,…
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Fluorescent proteins designed from scratch
In the summer of 1961, Osamu Shimomura drove across the country in a cramped station wagon to scoop jellyfish from the docks of Friday Harbor. He wanted to discover what made them glow. It took Shimomura and other biochemists more 30 years to find a full answer. By then, recombinant DNA technology allowed researchers to…
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New CPUs = new proteins
Modeling even the smallest protein requires a big computer. That’s why we are expanding and modernizing our in-house computing resources. Recently, Luki Goldschmidt, Senior Manager of Computing, and Patrick Vecchiato, our Computer Support Analyst, upgraded our local high-performance cluster known as DIGs. We use DIGs to develop new computational methods and protocols. While a typical…
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Lab field trip to the Quad
A fraction of the lab out to see the Yoshino cherry blossoms. Want to follow the cherry trees in real time? Check out @uwcherryblossom
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David selected for 2018 Hans Neurath Award
The Protein Society has selected David Baker as this year’s Hans Neurath Award winner. The award recognizes “a recent contribution of unusual merit to basic protein science.” The Society writes that David’s breakthroughs “reduce to practice what was for many decades the holy grail of protein science: fundamental understanding of the determinants of protein structure…
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Lab ski trip: Stevens Pass
Spring has sprung in Seattle, and blue skies mean mountain ski trips for the lab. To kick of 2018, lab members Tarik, Fatima, Scott, TJ, Brian C, Gabe B, David B, and friends spent a Sunday at beautiful Stevens Pass
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Multipass transmembrane proteins
Earlier this year, rocket company SpaceX wowed the world by launching their largest rocket yet — Falcon Heavy — into orbit. At 70 meters tall and nearly 1.5 million kilograms, Falcon Heavy is the largest space-faring vehicle in operation today. The payload for the maiden launch? CEO Elon Musk’s own red Tesla Roadster. This multi-million…
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End-of-year profile in The New York Times
At the end of a historic year for protein design, the Baker lab was honored to be profiled in the New York Times by famed science writer Carl Zimmer. Zimmer writes about the technology, progress and promise in the field, noting the contributions from our wonderful crowdsource participants. On the technology front, Rosetta continues to…