Kevin Karplus' research group develops tools and techniques for protein structure prediction and protein design. He collaborates with Richard Hughey's group on the development of the SAM tool suite for profile hidden Markov models, particularly on developing protocols for using the tools for high-accuracy detection of remote relationships between proteins. Karplus' group has used these tools themselves to earn an international reputation for accurate prediction of protein structure: secondary structure, tertiary structure, and contact prediction. In the biannual Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction "contests", his group has presented papers (the "prize" for the contest) in the past 6 CASPs. The group also collaborates extensively with UCSC wet-lab biologists in predicting structure and function for proteins of interest to them, and is starting work on designing novel proteins.