While amino-acid sequences can be quite useful for studying proteins, they fail to capture one critical aspect of those proteins: the three-dimensional structure that is formed by the chain of amino acids. One can think of proteins as complex shapes that need to fit together in three-dimensional space, much like a lock and key, in order for particular biological or chemical outcomes—such as the progression of a disease or its cure—to occur. The structure of a protein can, in some cases, be measured through painstaking experimental methods such as crystallography. But in many cases, the methods
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