Holoxica, which specialises in holography and 3D display, has made a medical imaging hologram of a Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) structure, allowing scientists to visualise the structure without any special glasses or other visual aids.
GFP is used to ‘tag’ other proteins to make them glow luminously, allowing scientists to watch their movement and interaction with other cells. It was originally isolated from bioluminescent jellyfish and glows green when it is exposed to light.
The three scientists who discovered GFP: Roger Tsien, a professor at the University of California San Diego; Martin Chalfie of Columbia University; and Osamu Shimomura, a Japanese researcher at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts, were awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2008 for their work in advancing understanding of the machinery inside living cells.
Holoxica has taken a molecular description from the Protein Data Base (PDB) containing all the necessary atomic and positional information to describe the structure. The resulting holograms are geometrically accurate and to scale. Any type of structure can be created in any orientation, including the ribbon structure or ball-and-stick atomic models. The hologram’s 3D image appears in mid-air and changes perspective as you move around it.
‘In developing this world first, we anticipate this 3D modelling will enable the global biochemical community to visualise the complexities of molecules or proteins in a far more detailed way,’ said Javid Khan, managing director of Holoxica.
‘It is even possible to do some animation where the structure can be rotated as the viewer moves around the hologram, or it can peel away to reveal underlying structures from different angles.’
