ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Protein NMR

Okay kiddo, so you know how we have a lot of different type of foods that give us energy and help us grow strong? Well, foods that are high in something called protein are especially important for our bodies.

Proteins are made up of little building blocks called amino acids, and they fold up into very specific shapes that give them different functions. Scientists use something called nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to study these shapes.

Think of NMR like a fancy camera that takes pictures inside a protein. But instead of using light to take the pictures, it uses a magnet. The magnet makes the atoms in the protein move around in different ways, and a computer can use those movements to create a 3D picture of the protein's shape.

This is really important because the shape of a protein can tell us a lot about how it works in our bodies. For example, some proteins are involved in diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, and by studying their shapes with NMR, scientists can look for ways to treat those diseases.

So, in short, NMR is a cool tool that helps scientists learn more about the shapes of important proteins in our bodies, which can help with research and treatment of diseases.