Today is a flag day in structural genomics: 1000 human proteins have had their structure determined. Many proteins have a complex 3D structure, and the functioning of a protein (such as enzymes, transport proteins, molecular signals and gene control mechanisms) is entirely dependent upon this structure. If we can figure out what a protein should look like we have a good starting place to try and work out what is happening when something goes wrong, such as in cancer and many other diseases.
The article heralding this milestone can be found here, and there is a slideshow that shows 10 of the most important discoveries along with details of why they are so important here.
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