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Is suspending/building something to display the protein all that important? I mean yes it helps transport an keep the protein in a specific shape, but do you think judges view it as contributing to your model? Winning teams usually have taken some effort to display their protein. I can give some ex...

Hmm... i don't know then. There are so many places for slight deductions. But if you model with that level of specificity you'll do very well on *my* exam next year

Is it possible that you made mistakes on your creative additions? I didn't give credit for some additions if their explanations suggested that competitors knew the right words but not what the concept actually meant. Often there are errors in modeling too (docking the protein in DNA that is way off ...

Uhhh... is question #10 wrong on the 2011 national exam answer key?

Yeah, especially given that it's impossible to take all subjectivity out of the model judging, I think it's best to regard your placement in this event as placing you in a range rather than a position. I've had events where five teams were separated by less than half a point (that easily could have ...

The Eviscerator wrote:Just to clarify: other residue sidechains (say for example tyrosine, a non-charged hydrophillic amino acid) besides arginine interact with dna, right?

Yes side chains other than arginine interact with DNA. I'm not sure that tyrosine is one of them in this case.

Typing should be fine. I didn't find multiple residues, but it's possible. if you measure bond lengths the distance between hydrogen bond donors and acceptors are usually about 3-4 angstromsish. Direction should also be a clue (you can figure this out for yourself... it's nontrivial).

Both sides are fine. I'm not sure how you could possibly judge this event without touching the models. And i think that the hydrogen bonds are more than five and less than sixteen.

Hey everyone, I just had state and came in 3rd in Protein Modeling and 3rd overall so one spot out of Nationals, but the only real comments that the proctor gave me besides good things about my placement of zinc fingers, they said that the only thing that i had a mishap on was the placement of my D...

I would suggest getting a better definition of the major and minor grooves. Poke around on google and wikipedia for a bit, it should be readily available. Also *hint hint* you may want to think about this for your models. Only one team from NY did. Sorry, just clarifying, you mean labeling the majo...