Technique To Research 3-D Structure of DNA in Virtual Reality
It’s time you’re able to dive into your DNA! MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine scientists has made this wonderful tech – “CSynth”, wherein you can visualize and examine DNA’s complicated 3D stricture virtually. And Hurray! this tool is available for all free of cost.
Computational Biology and Gene Regulation Experts: Stephen Taylor and Jim Hughes, researchers in Centre for Computational Biology – MRC WIMM, along with specialists in real-time computer images and human-machine interaction at Goldsmiths, University of London worked together to make CSynth.
In simple terms, CSynth is a Dynamic Modelling and Visualisation Tool that enables scientists to picture a whole chromosome of DNA in 3-D and track points of physical interaction.
CSynth, unlike other applications, utilizes a blend of interactive modeling with the ability to connect what they see in their 3-D model with the DNA sequence information publicly available online. It allows the users to alter parameters and compare to different models to analyze how this combination could affect or alter their genes and other components in the DNA. CSynth combines its state-of-the-art computational version with Virtual Reality.
The University of Oxford has collaborated with MRC WIMM
researchers under a project to determine the folding patterns of DNA that code for part of the hemoglobin complex in different cells types.
The best part is this tool is now available free to all. Any researcher can analyze their data by uploading it at http://csynth.org/. The tool does not require any software to be preinstalled and is pretty easy and fast to run. This public web interface of CSynth makes it extremely useful and can be utilized for education and learning purposes too.
