Perfect to teach and study, and for free!
Easily build virtual molecular models of chemical and biological entities for display in web-based augmented and virtual reality
The Metaverse should not be just for entertainment, but for easier education and work too. We just published a paper describing one of the very first tools for this! It works on various devices from regular phones, tablets and computers to high-end VR headsets.
You probably saw earlier my articles on moleculARweb and other technologies that use commodity augmented reality to help teachers teach and students learn about chemistry and biology:
New educational AR and VR tools for chemistry and biology
Now, the Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modelling just published our peer-reviewed article describing our new tool to create AR and VR scenes from atomic coordinates and volumetric data. Starting with atom coordinates, you can describe any molecule, from the smallest compounds to the largest biomolecular assemblies ever solved such as ribosomes; while starting from volumetric data you can get to see from large biomolecular assemblies observed by low-resolution cryo-electron microscopy to whole particles such as viruses reconstructed by cryo-electron tomography.
Starting from atomic coordinates, the tool automatically grabs PDB files from the Protein Data Bank or from AlphaFold-EBI’s database, and prepares them as AR/VR objects.
The alternative is to start with objects already exported by the user from the VMD program. This can include everything from VMD’s own representations of atomic coordinates to isosurfaces depicting pieces of volumetric data from cryo-electron microscopy or tomography, atomic or molecular orbitals, electron densities, molecular surfaces, etc.
After submitting your coordinates or VMD-exported objects through the web interface, you’ll get an e-mail with links to its AR and VR modes. You can open all of them on your regular device (tablet, smartphone, laptop or desktop computer) or even in the web browsers of modern VR headsets. In the latter, you can manipulate the objects with your bare hands or with the device’s controls. It’s a very neat experience that you should try out!
The web tool and paper are both for free
The tool is freely accessible at no cost and without registration here:
The paper is free to read on Open Access. It includes several pictures displaying the various kinds of visualization available, and several links for you to try right away on the web browser of your smartphone, tablet, computer, or VR headset.
Interested in the programming of this?
We made the code available on GitHub on an AGPL-3 license:
For more, you can contact me or the talented programmer behind all this, Fabio Cortes.
The development of this tool was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Hasler Foundation.
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