November 25, 2025 Science In a breakthrough powered by AlphaFold, scientists have mapped the structure of the large protein that gives “bad cholesterol” its form – a discovery that could help transform how researchers and clinicians treat the world’s leading cause of death The race to reveal a key protein behind heart disease has long been both an important public health goal and a stubborn scientific problem. For assistant professors Zachary Berndsen and Keith Cassidy at the University of Missouri (Mizzou), it was also personal. Both have a family history of heart disease – a reminder of what’s at stake in their work to better understand and ultimately help treat this deadly condition. “For 50 years, people have wanted to see what this protein looked like,” says Berndsen. That protein, apoB100, has defied mapping not only because it’s enormous (for a protein), but also because it connects to fats and other molecules in complicated ways.…