Paintings, Cartoons Combine to Render Biological Molecules

PORTLAND, Oregon, August 2, 2022 – The inner structure of living cells is challenging to visualize with experiments. Combining artistic methods with structural biology can create illustrations that depict these small scales in an interpretable, accessible, and scientifically accurate way.

During the American Crystallographic Association’s 72nd annual meeting, which will be held from July 29 to Aug. 3 in Portland, Oregon, David Goodsell, of Scripps Research and RCSB Protein Data Bank, will discuss his use of artistic methods to visualize biological data. His presentation, “Art as a Tool for Structural Biology,” takes place Tuesday, Aug. 2 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern U.S.

Bioinformatics, structural biology, and microscopy provide detailed information on the inner structure of living cells, but visualizing that data can be too complex for computational modeling. Traditional artistic mediums, like painting, provide the freedom necessary to illustrate the cells and may lead to better models in the future.

“These illustrations are laying the foundation for computational modeling of whole cells,” said Goodsell. “We are building a toolbox of computational methods to build and visualize models of whole cells. This has only recently become feasible by leveraging advanced computer graphics methods from the gaming industry.”

For example, Goodsell’s colorful paintings include a bacterial cell undergoing division, signals being passed between nerve cells, and SARS-CoV-2 and vaccines. These artistic endeavors laid the groundwork for a recent molecular model of an entire bacterial cell.

He also creates brightly colored, cartoonlike graphics with nonphotorealistic computer graphics methods to highlight the overall shape of molecules and how they assemble and interact.

These images are used as a centerpiece in an ongoing educational column at the RCSB Protein Data Bank, “Molecule of the Month,” to present topics in biomedicine, bioenergy, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and general biomolecular science. Stories and images of each molecular structure emphasize its structure, function, and impact on daily life.

“Artistic approaches are widely used to create dynamic visual materials for education and outreach to inspire a new generation of biological researchers,” said Goodsell.

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ABOUT AMERICAN CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC ASSOCIATION

The American Crystallographic Association, Inc. is a nonprofit, scientific organization of more than 1,000 members in more than 35 countries. The ACA was founded in 1949 through a merger of the American Society for X-Ray and Electron Diffraction (ASXRED) and the Crystallographic Society of America (CSA). The objective of the ACA is to promote interactions among scientists who study the structure of matter at atomic (or near atomic) resolution. These interactions will advance experimental and computational aspects of crystallography and diffraction. Understanding the nature of the forces that both control and result from the molecular and atomic arrangements in matter will help shed light on chemical interactions in nature.

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