How proteins in our cells attain their correct three-dimensional structure is crucial to their function—and to our health. Errors in this process can lead to serious diseases. Researchers at the Center for Medical Biotechnology (ZMB) at the University of Duisburg-Essen, together with national partners, have now deciphered a central mechanism of this essential cellular process. At the core of their findings is the BiP–GRP94 chaperone complex. It plays a key role in protein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum, the cell’s production and control center.. The study has just been published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.