# Module 6: The Experimentalist

> Understand that a computationally designed protein is a hypothesis, not a product. Learn what determines whether a design actually works when expressed in a cell, and develop the critical thinking to anticipate failure modes.

Lab Reality Check

Understand that a computationally designed protein is a hypothesis, not a product. Learn what determines whether a design actually works when expressed in a cell, and develop the critical thinking to anticipate failure modes.

- Treat a computationally designed protein as a hypothesis that is not proven until it is expressed
- Choose an expression system from a protein’s actual requirements rather than by habit
- Predict aggregation risk from surface properties before committing to synthesis
- Diagnose the failure modes that kill designs: buried charges, exposed patches, wrong oligomeric state, unstable folds
- Trace the validation pipeline from gene to functional proof and read what each assay reports

## Links

- [Introduction](https://proteindesign.academy/module/6/intro)
- [6.1 Expression Systems](https://proteindesign.academy/module/6/1)
- [6.2 The Solubility Problem](https://proteindesign.academy/module/6/2)
- [6.3 Why Designs Fail](https://proteindesign.academy/module/6/3)
- [6.4 The Validation Pipeline](https://proteindesign.academy/module/6/4)
- [The Expressibility Audit](https://proteindesign.academy/module/6/capstone)
- [Use the Tools](https://proteindesign.academy/module/6/tools)
- [Start Here](https://proteindesign.academy/start-here)
- [Tools & Papers](https://proteindesign.academy/tools-and-papers)
- [Continuing Practice](https://proteindesign.academy/continuing-practice)