High performance liquid chromatography system

蛋白质是生命的分子机器：它们具有令人难以置信的多种功能，从结构成分到催化剂，再到信号分子等等。 蛋白质是由称为氨基酸的线性结构单元组成的。这些链折叠起来形成决定蛋白质独特功能的特定结构。 蛋白质如何折叠和发挥功能的信息被编码在它们的氨基酸序列中。 大量的基因组测序计划已经确定了大量蛋白质的序列，并表明蛋白质中单个氨基酸的变化与许多疾病有关。 例如，蛋白质超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）的突变会导致神经退行性疾病肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS），也称为Lou Gehrig病。 测序工作与其他实验和计算研究相结合，提供了广泛的信息和预测工具，用于估计氨基酸序列如何决定蛋白质的结构和功能，或疾病情况下的功能障碍。 然而，尽管取得了这一进展，我们仍然远远不能准确和一致地预测蛋白质将如何根据其氨基酸序列的行为。

Proteins are life's molecular machines: they have incredibly diverse functions ranging from structural components, to catalysts, to signalling molecules, and many more. Proteins consist of linear chains of building blocks, called amino acids. The chains fold up to form specific structures that determine proteins' unique functions. The information for how proteins fold and function is encoded in their sequence of amino acids. Tremendous genome sequencing initiatives have determined the sequences of vast numbers of proteins, and have shown that single amino acid changes in proteins are associated with many diseases. For example, mutations in the protein superoxide dismutase (SOD) cause the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The sequencing efforts combined with other experimental and computational research have provided extensive information and predictive tools for estimating how amino acid sequence determines protein structure and function, or misfunction in the case of disease. Despite this progress, however, we are still far from being able to accurately and consistently predict how a protein will behave based on its amino acid sequence.