diff --git a/backend/.gitignore b/backend/.gitignore
index 9a88b5bc..83e1dfb2 100644
--- a/backend/.gitignore
+++ b/backend/.gitignore
@@ -3,4 +3,5 @@ __pycache__/
 .foldseek_cache/
 foldseek/bin/foldseek
 foldseek/README.md
-foldseek-linux-sse2.tar.gz
\ No newline at end of file
+foldseek-linux-sse2.tar.gz
+pdb*
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/src/api/similar.py b/backend/src/api/similar.py
index 0208be47..d4985c58 100644
--- a/backend/src/api/similar.py
+++ b/backend/src/api/similar.py
@@ -4,18 +4,17 @@
     pdb_file_name,
     revert_pdb_filename,
 )
-from ..foldseek import easy_search
+from ..foldseek import easy_search, create_db
 
 router = APIRouter()
 
 
 @router.get("/similar-pdb/{protein_name:str}", response_model=list[SimilarProtein])
 def get_pdb_proteins(protein_name: str):
-    # query_name = pdb_file_name(protein_name)
-    # target_folder = "src/data/pdbAlphaFold/"
-    # similar = easy_search(query_name, target_folder, out_format=["target", "prob"])
-    pass
-    # return [SimilarProtein(name=revert_pdb_filename(s[0]), prob=s[1]) for s in similar]
+    query_name = pdb_file_name(protein_name)
+    PDB = create_db("PDB", "pdb")
+    similar = easy_search(query_name, PDB, out_format=["target", "prob"])
+    return [SimilarProtein(name=s[0].split(".")[0], prob=s[1]) for s in similar]
 
 
 @router.get("/similar-venome/{protein_name:str}", response_model=list[SimilarProtein])
diff --git a/backend/src/foldseek.py b/backend/src/foldseek.py
index cd0a4aad..d2e53a89 100644
--- a/backend/src/foldseek.py
+++ b/backend/src/foldseek.py
@@ -80,14 +80,10 @@ def easy_search(
 def create_db(
     dir: str,
     db_name: str,
-    foldseek_executable="foldseek",
+    foldseek_executable="foldseek/bin/foldseek",
     print_stdout=False,
     temp_dir=".foldseek_cache",
 ):
-    # don't continue unless they actually have foldseek installed
-    if bash_cmd(f"which {foldseek_executable}") == "":
-        raise Exception("foldseek not found in PATH")
-
     # check that our dir exists
     try:
         bash_cmd(f"ls {dir}")