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Antibiotics and the cell's protein factory
All cells have thousands of proteins that carry out the essential functions of life. The information to make proteins resides in our genes, each of which specifies a particular protein. The ribosome is the key component that translate the genetic code into the protein building blocks that make you You. Bacteria on the other hand have remarkably different ribosomes, and its this key difference that allows us to create antibiotics that kill off disease, while leaving our own cells unharmed.
President of the Royal Society, Sir Venki Ramakrishnan talks about his groundbreaking work visualising the ribosome in atomic detail, helping us to understand how it works while simultaneously giving us an insight into how antibiotics function.
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