Self Assembly of Macromolecular Structures: Spontaneous Formation of the Three-Dimensional Structure of Proteins

Anfinsen presented this paper at the Twenty-seventh Symposium of the Society for Developmental Biology, in Ithica, New York. He spoke on the emergence of order during cellular differentiation and growth that implied "an organized, genetically complex process taking place over a reasonably extended stretch of time." According to Anfinsen, the only obvious driving force for altering a three dimensional protein structure to its native conformation is the selection of progressively more stable conformations to a form possessing the most favorable free energy of conformation, the native protein.