Wed, Oct 10, 2001: PROSPECT's algorithm speeds protein analysis
PROSPECT was recently featured under Emerging Technologies in the September/October issue of Genomics & Proteomics magazine. PROSPECT is a protein structure prediction system that employs a computational technique called protein threading to construct a protein's 3-D model. Developing effective threading methodologies to meet researcher's needs has posed a significant challenge to bioinformatics. However, utilizing a \"divide and conquor\" algorithm based on new discoveries about the nature of protein folding, PROSPECT guarantees to find the globally optimal alignment for a general threading energy function, including a pair-wise contact potential. Prior to the PROSPECT program, no threading algorithms have been successful with pair-wise contact potentials. Since it was made available in December 2000, over 20 academic organizations (the Whitehead Institute, Columbia University and Darmouth College) as well as leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have licensed the software.
