[RivieraKid]

What are the real-world applications of protein folding (preferably, some specific example)? I always hear that it's really important for drug design and biotechnology but have a hard time imagining something concrete.

[superfx]

Re drug discovery, often times in “rational” drug design, medicinal chemists try to make small molecules that bind snuggly into a binding pocket on the protein. Having the structure of the protein aids greatly in that process.

[xiao_haozi]

Yes! And I'd also add that there are others that come into play...

* Elucidating function by identifying similarity to other known structures

* Finding novel signaling mechanisms (see work on PHinder)

* Modeling co-receptor/ligand dynamics

* Identifying function of orphan receptors

* Working with ancestral genes by identifying descendant structure

* Classifying and clustering proteins based on solved structure

* Learning new biochemical mechanisms through active vs inactive state structures

...