ABI Innovation: Building and sharing molecular visualizations with Molecular ViewBook

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Harvard University is awarded a grant to develop new software tools that will allow researchers to create and share accurate and dynamic visual molecular models of molecular processes. As we gain a deeper understanding of the complexity and dynamics of molecular mechanisms, the need for modeling tools that will synthesize diverse molecular and cellular data becomes more urgent. 3D animation software offers an attractive solution to this need, but has been adopted by only a small number of researchers due to the steep learning curve for most 3D graphics applications. This project seeks to enable researchers to create dynamic visualizations of the molecular processes they study, and to share these visualizations with others in the research and educational communities. The Molecular ViewBook project is broken into two major components. First, the 3D Molecular Toolkit, a suite of free software tools that will allow users to start creating molecular animations in an open-source animation software package after viewing a short tutorial. The 3D Molecular Toolkit will include modules that cover all aspects of molecular animation, including easy-to-use tools to import and manipulate structural data, create conformational changes in protein models, and dynamically build higher-order molecular structures. The second component is the Molecular ViewBook website (http://MolecularViewbook.org), a portal which will enable users to share their animations and animation source codes with others. From the Molecular ViewBook website, users can search for molecular animations that other users have created, and modify these animations to add new components.Molecular animations are increasingly recognized and utilized as a powerful means to communicate complex molecular mechanisms to a wide variety of audiences. In the past several years, we have witnessed a large and rapidly growing interest amongst researchers to be able to create animations. To aid in the dissemination of the Molecular ViewBook, these investigators will conduct local and national workshops for researchers. They will also introduce an Educational Portal that will target biology educators and students at the high school and college levels, thereby expanding our user community beyond the scope of the research community.