Abstract:Past decades have seen much effort devoted to the tool development for biomacromolecule structural visualization and analysis. In recent years, we have witnessed tremendous advancement in computational technologies, especially in graphics and internet. Here we present an integrative cloud-based, virtual reality (VR) system --VRmol that exploits these technology advances to visualize and study macromolecule structures in various forms. The immersive environment can improve user experiences in visualization, cal… Show more
“…For example, patients with diabetes shall monitor their sugar levels by simply using their smartphones without necessarily possessing medical equipment. The technology shall also allow the patients to possess enjoyable experiences with their healthcare sector [9]. Virtual reality holds a bright future for patients.…”
Virtual reality technology is a technology that has gained popularity in recent days in the wake of the fourth industrial revolution. It has been widely studied and used across different medical applications. In the pharmaceutical industry, virtual reality can be applied as a replacement or adjunctive for pharmacotherapy. Virtual reality in improving drug design has presented several benefits, although it is yet fully implemented. For instance, VR tools have been used in pharmacist education, drug design, discovery, behavior modification, and patient counseling. The interest in researching virtual reality is continuously increasing despite several limitations, such as financial constraints. This research makes conclusions through analyzing secondary sources. Amidst this, past research on the topic has proved that virtual reality technology is completely safe and much more effective, an aspect that can promote user satisfaction. Furthermore, it is slowly becoming affordable, portable, and even flexible, an aspect that has smoothened therapeutic processes for outpatient and inpatient environs. Some of the other challenges identified by this research include usability issues such as costs, validation of its efficacy, and acceptance.
“…For example, patients with diabetes shall monitor their sugar levels by simply using their smartphones without necessarily possessing medical equipment. The technology shall also allow the patients to possess enjoyable experiences with their healthcare sector [9]. Virtual reality holds a bright future for patients.…”
Virtual reality technology is a technology that has gained popularity in recent days in the wake of the fourth industrial revolution. It has been widely studied and used across different medical applications. In the pharmaceutical industry, virtual reality can be applied as a replacement or adjunctive for pharmacotherapy. Virtual reality in improving drug design has presented several benefits, although it is yet fully implemented. For instance, VR tools have been used in pharmacist education, drug design, discovery, behavior modification, and patient counseling. The interest in researching virtual reality is continuously increasing despite several limitations, such as financial constraints. This research makes conclusions through analyzing secondary sources. Amidst this, past research on the topic has proved that virtual reality technology is completely safe and much more effective, an aspect that can promote user satisfaction. Furthermore, it is slowly becoming affordable, portable, and even flexible, an aspect that has smoothened therapeutic processes for outpatient and inpatient environs. Some of the other challenges identified by this research include usability issues such as costs, validation of its efficacy, and acceptance.
“…WebVR-capable molecular viewers are less widespread, possibly due to the currently limited browser-support for this technology. VRMol [26] is a complete web-based VR tool available at vrmol.net which has recently been released. UnityMol experiments with WebVR have been reported as well [25].…”
Section: Emerging Needs For Molecular Visualizationmentioning
Molecular visualization is fundamental in the current scientific literature, textbooks and dissemination materials. It provides an essential support for presenting results, reasoning on and formulating hypotheses related to molecular structure. Tools for visual exploration of structural data have become easily accessible on a broad variety of platforms thanks to advanced software tools that render a great service to the scientific community. These tools are often developed across disciplines bridging computer science, biology and chemistry. This mini-review was written as a short and compact overview for scientists who need to visualize protein structures and want to make an informed decision which tool they should use. Here, we first describe a few ‘Swiss Army knives’ geared towards protein visualization for everyday use with an existing large user base, then focus on more specialized tools for peculiar needs that are not yet as broadly known. Our selection is by no means exhaustive, but reflects a diverse snapshot of scenarios that we consider informative for the reader. We end with an account of future trends and perspectives.
“… Figure 1 Snapshots of VR scenes including protein structures from the influenza virus or SARS-CoV-2, created using BlendMol [47] , [58] (downloaded from https://git.durrantlab.pitt.edu/jdurrant/blendmol/-/tree/1_2/examples/web-files/virtual-reality ) (top) and Nanome [53] , [54] (bottom), respectively; Nanome images are obtained from Alex et al, 2020, under the license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Figure 2 Snapshots of VR scenes including protein structures created using VRmol [60] (top) and ProteinVR [62] (bottom). The structures correspond to the SARS Spike Glycoprotein - human ACE2 complex (PDB ID: 6CS2) (left) and to the Dimeric DARPin A_angle_R5 complex with EpoR (PDB ID: 6MOJ) (right).…”
Section: Desktop Applicationsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“… Snapshots of VR scenes including protein structures created using VRmol [60] (top) and ProteinVR [62] (bottom). The structures correspond to the SARS Spike Glycoprotein - human ACE2 complex (PDB ID: 6CS2) (left) and to the Dimeric DARPin A_angle_R5 complex with EpoR (PDB ID: 6MOJ) (right).…”
Section: Desktop Applicationsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Using the Web Graphics Library (WebGL) [59] , it is now possible to create web-based VR experiences that can be directly accessed with common web browsers. VRmol [60] , is a molecular viewer with some analysis tools and a VR visualization mode. It is very well documented [61] and it is compatible with HTC, Vive, Oculus Rift, Microsoft Mix Reality and other VR devices that work with WebVR enabled web browsers (Microsoft Edge and Firefox Nightly, for instance).…”
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