ABSTRACT
Proteins are wonderful examples of self-organised nano-machines. Proteins are peptide polymer chains built from an amino acid library containing 20 different members. These members have different side chains that differ in basic properties such as electrical charge or hydrophobicity. (For an introduction to proteins, see Poon’s chapter in this volume.) One of the most fundamental and challenging problems in molecular biophysics is understanding how these polypeptide chains fold into complex 3-D structures that can act as channels, enzymes and even motor proteins.
