Anfinsen's dogma
How the protein reaches this structure is the subject of the field of protein folding, which has a related dogma called Levinthal's paradox. The Levinthal paradox states that the number of possible conformations available to a given protein is astronomically large, such that even a small protein of 100 residues would require more time than the universe has existed to explore all possible conformations (1026 seconds) and choose the appropriate one.