Dr. Fazale Rana: "The Process of Protein Synthesis Is like a Factory Operation"

- Dr. Rana, the process of protein synthesis, does it resemble any of the synthesis of any synthetic material, I mean in a factory? Can you make a brief comparison of the processes of a factory and the processes of the protein synthesis?

- One of the things that I think is really interesting is, when you think about the way in which proteins are produced in the cell, it literally is like a factory operation where you have the making instructions housed in the DNA and those instructions are copied and then carried to the actual assembly line, which is the ribosome and those instructions are used to build proteins bit by bit. But in addition to that, there is actually quality control systems that are checking that process from beginning to end to make sure that no mistakes happen, and if they do happen, to either eliminate the defected product or to correct it so that it can be still used for the cell's purposes. And that similarity between a manufacturing operation and the way in which the cell assembles proteins to me suggests that there is a mind that was undergirding life itself.