Simulation makes it possible to study movements of cell's largest protein complexes without supercomputers

Large protein machines in the body carry out many of the cell's most essential tasks, from energy production to the regulation of signal transmission. Although they can now be imaged in great detail using cryo-electron microscopy, it has long been difficult to understand how these complexes actually move and function. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now developed a computational method capable of simulating the movements of some of the cell's largest protein complexes.