Molecular Playground @ UAH.es

The project in Alcalá

Website: MolPlay.web.uah.es

Financed by the University of Alcalá (UAH) as a project for promoting innovation in the teaching and learning process, 2012 call.

Human team

Dr. Angel Herráez ¹
Dr. José Carlos Diez ¹
Dr. M. Cristina Tejedor ¹
Dr. Julio Álvarez-Builla ²
Dr. Carolina Burgos ²

1. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

2. Organic Chemistry

Contact:

Press release and video

The exhibit

Description

Installed at the hall of the School of Pharmacy, external campus in Alcalá.

The molecules:

Micelles: how lipids and detergents behave in water.
Ritonavir: a prescription drug against HIV.
Drugs against flu that inhibit influenza virus neuraminidase.
The periodic table of elements with the size of atoms and their ions.
A nanomachine: atoms as building blocks.
The Lugol reaction (starch and iodine).
Biotin and avidin: a couple with extraordinary affinity.
Tryacilglycerol: a common fat.
Olestra, or sucrose poliester: a calorie-free substitute for fats.
Acetophenone: a natural flavour with uses in food.
A peptide in alpha helix.
Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and the neuraminidase of avian flu virus.
Relenza (zanamivir) and the neuraminidase of mutant flu virus.
The ribosome: the protein `factory´.
CRABp protein is a carrier for retinoic acid.
The green fluorescent protein (GFP).
DNA double helix: instructions for life.
A proton channel through the cell membrane.
Taxol (paclitaxel): antitumor therapy with plant origins.
Cathepsin A: a chaperone in the endoplasmic reticulum.
Prolyl hydroxylase: a cellular sensor for hypoxia.
Chymotrypsin: a digestive protease.
DEBS, a component of a complex that makes antibiotics.
A chemotactic sensor in bacteria.
ClpX: a protein that unfolds other proteins thanks to ATP.
Conformational change in T7 phage RNA polymerase.
α-manosidase I in the endoplasmic reticulum.
β₂ microglobulin and dialysis-related amyloidosis.
Sofosbuvir for hepatitis C treatment.
The zika virus

Acknowledgements

UAH, through its Vice-chancellorship for Teaching Quality and Innovation, has financed the equipment.
The Technology Office of UAH provided technical resources, material and human support to implement the exhibit.
The Dean of the Pharmacy School, UAH, allowed the use of space to install the exhibit.
The MolecularPlayground.Org project donated the software that drives the system and offered technical advice. The MolecularPlayground.Org team: Prof. Craig T. Martin, Adam Williams, Prof. Eric Martz, Prof. Allen Hanson; University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA.
The Jmol Development Team, currently lead by Prof. Robert M. Hanson (St. Olaf College), offers for free this piece of software that allows to present 3D molecular models, and swiftly provided software updates to solve the problems detected.
The presentation video was recorded and edited by some students of the Degree in Audiovisual Communication and the Master in Communication and Learning in the Digital Society, coordinated by their tutors and personnel from UAH Digital Newspaper.

A project for promoting innovation in the teaching and learning process, UAH 2012 call.

This material will be associated to the international MolecularPlayground.org project

The international project, MolecularPlayground.org

Website: www.MolecularPlayground.org

Article describing the project (without technical details).

Demonstration videos:

at work
The English version is not yet complete.

Technical matters

We are using version 1 of the MolecularPlayground software (Jan. 2012), with MPControlHub and an updated version of MPJmolApp (Nov. 2012) that uses Jmol 13.1.9_dev

In the web version we are using JSmol 14.4, with or without Java.

If you are interested in more details, please email us.

Proudly driven by Jmol