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Time to step inside your DNA

Research

Researchers at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine (MRC WIMM) have developed technology that allows scientists to explore the complex 3D structure of DNA in Virtual Reality. In a newly published pre-print, the team describes their tool, which is now freely available to all.

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Working out the sequence that makes up genetic code is now routine in medical research, but the sequence is not the whole story; genes are also turned on and off by physical interaction between specific parts of DNA.

Consider chromosome 1, just one of the 23 paired chromosomes we have: An intricately folded chain of 250,000,000 nucleotides containing 4,220 genes which physically interact with each other in three dimensions.

Read more (Oxford Science Blog, University of Oxford website)