FoldSynth

FoldSynth @ BioVis 2011

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:12:41 +0000

FoldSynth will be presented at the 1st IEEE Symposium on Biological Data Visualization: BioVis 2011

FoldSynth: A physics-based interactive visualisation platform for proteins and other molecular strands

Authors: Peter Todd, Stephen Todd, Frederic Fol Leymarie, William Latham, Benjamin Jefferys, Lawrence Kelley

FoldSynth is an interactive multimedia platform designed to help people understand the characteristics of molecular strands with an emphasis on proteins. It uses a simple model of molecular forces to give real time interactive animations of the folding and docking processes. The shape of a molecular strand is shown as a 3D visualization floating above a 2D triangular matrix representing distance constraints, contact maps or other features of residue pairs. The 2D visualization is also interactive and can be used to manipulate a molecule, define constraints, control and view the folding dynamically, or even design new molecules.

Click here to view the embedded video.

FoldSynth presented at VizBi 2010

admin — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 18:49:08 +0000

FoldSynth: interactive multimedia platform for real and synthetic protein structures

EMBO Workshop on Visualizing Biological Data

3-5 March 2010, EMBL Heidelberg, Germany

FoldSynth is an interactive multimedia platform designed to help people understand the characteristics of protein structures. It uses a simplified model of molecular forces to give an interactive animation of the folding process. The shape of the protein is shown as a 3D visualization floating above a 2D triangular distance matrix [3] which provides an alternative interactive visualisation. The user adds and removes forces by interacting directly with the 3D protein or by “painting” on the 2D matrix. The shape of the protein reacts to the current set of forces with corresponding change to the distance matrix. There are simple tools to paint forces that e.g. cause the creation of alpha helices and beta sheets. Cellular automata can also operate on the distance matrix, introducing dynamic force processes. The forces can be initialized to mimic proteins loaded from a DAS server. The model includes masses and simplified forces for hydrophobicity and electric charge. The 3D visualization shows various representations (smoothed backbone, cartoon, etc.). Forces and properties (such as hydrophobicity) are mapped onto different graphical features (colour, texture, bump mapping) and sonifications. FoldSynth can recreate real protein structures, but can also create new folds which are protein-like yet fundamentally different to know protein structures. FoldSynth is a continuation of previous work we did on reading DNA data to produce visualisation of protein information which we first presented at SIGGRAPH in 2007. In this previous work we introduced a novel way to navigate backward and forward in time through the phylogenetic tree [1,2]. References: [1] “Using DNA to Generate 3D Organic Art Forms,” W. Latham et al., EvoMusArt 2008. [2] “From DNA to 3D Organic Art Forms,” W. Latham et al., SIGGRAPH 2007. [3] “Protein Geometry, Classification, Topology and Symmetry”, Taylor & Aszodi, IoP, 2005.

MRG Seminar — Richard Fishman on Brown University’s new Center for the Creative Arts

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:02:20 +0000

Ben Pimlott Building, Lecture Hall

Monday March 29, 2010, 14h-16h

Richard Fishman

Professor of Visual Art

Brown University (Rhode Island, USA)

In January 2011, the Brown University Center for the Creative Arts Center will open, drawing together all the arts at Brown University, and forming a forward base for exploration, research, performance, and interdisciplinary endeavors.

This extraordinary piece of architecture will become both the literal and figurative heart of the campus, pulling people together, and creating an ecosystem for supportive, innovative artistic diversity.

Collaborations among artists, scientists, and humanists will thrive, with students and faculty creating new art forms, new approaches to collaborative work, and new understandings of the creative process.

Richard Fishman, Professor of Visual Art and Director of the Creative Arts Council, will talk about the ideas informing the program for the Center designed by the New York architectural firm, Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, and will give us a glimpse into the future of the Arts at Brown University.

Richard Fishman is a sculptor and designer whose work is represented in numerous private and public collections including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the B’nai Brith Museum in Washington D.C., the Jewish Museum in New York City, the Rose Art Museum, Brandies University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA.

Over the course of his career he has had 27 one-person exhibitions, more than 50 group exhibitions and is the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. Fishman is a Professor of Visual Art and Director of the Creative Arts Council at Brown University, where he has been instrumental in creating interdisciplinary initiatives, exploring the connections between artists scientists and engineers. His interest in collaborative teaching projects has resulted in courses exploring relationships between art, physics engineering, and environmental studies.

As Director of the Brown University Creative Arts Council Professor Fishman led his colleagues towards the conceptualization and realization of a new Center for the Creative Arts at Brown University.

MRG Seminar — Nonny de la Peña on Immersive journalism

admin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:58:03 +0000

Ben Pimlott Building, Lecture Hall

Monday October 26, 2009, 17h-18h

Nonny de la Peña

Senior Research Fellow

Immersive Journalism, USC Annenberg School of Journalism (California, USA)

Nonny de la Peña will talk about immersive journalism, a novel way to utilize gaming platforms and virtual environments to convey news, documentary and non-fiction stories. She will discuss how these platforms might offer audiences an immersive experience that can complement and extend reporting in traditional news media. She will also present Gone Gitmo, a virtual Guantanamo Bay Prison, and IPSRESS, an experience using head mounted display technology, as potential prototypes of immersive journalism.

http://www.gonegitmo.blogspot.com

www.NonnyDLP.com

Professor William Latham’s Inaugural

admin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:42:30 +0000

Computer art, games and business — A chronological history of William Latham’s work.

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009; 17h00, Ian Gulland Lecture Theater, Goldsmiths College.

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Lecture summary:

William Latham will chart the course of his work from its roots in traditional Fine Art, through his early hand drawn evolutionary drawing through to his work as a Research Fellow at IBM UK Scientific Centre in Winchester from 1987 to 1993. It is there he developed his pioneering Mutator computer art style, and he will expand on its worldwide exposure at the SIGGRAPH conference and touring exhibitions around the world.
He will then cover his commercial work; founding a software development studio and its projects in the music and computer games industry over a 13 year period with Universal Studios, SONY , Virgin and Nokia and later due diligence work for banks and investors. He will then talk about his work since joining Goldsmiths, University of London, and restarting the Mutator 2 Project there which had been dormant for 13 years. He will also discuss the new Mutator 2 genetics project with the Centre for Bioinformatics at Imperial College and the broadening scope of Mutator 2 moving into 3D Design and architecture. Though the talk is chronological it will cover a mixture of art, creative, technical, research, management and business threads and William will aim to share some of the sharper personal insights from the journey so far, and the importance of collaborative work.

Press Release (old PR: inaugural was postponed once due to a snow storm)

William Latham’s website: www.williamlatham1.com