Science Time - Molecules and Models

The Magic of Molecular Modeling

"All Art is but imitation of nature." - Seneca
The same seems to be happening in scientific laboratories today.

Life is nothing but a few molecules put together in a certain order. The order is as important as the molecules are. Years and decades of research have brought us the knowledge about these molecules and researchers nowadays are busy determining the order of their arrangement. This has given rise to an extremely important field called molecular modeling.

Molecular modeling is the branch of study that revolves around prediction of structures and functions of various biological molecules by means of models developed on computers.

The study is limited not only to visualizing the structures of molecules, but can range from performing complex calculations related to the behaviour of the molecule to prediction of the functions of the molecule.

Molecular modeling has perhaps been best explored in case of proteins. The vast expanse of the biological world harbours countless proteins. Our hair, skin, stomach, muscles, tears, sweat, diet - everything contains proteins and that too of varied kinds. A detailed knowledge about the arrangement, nature and working of these proteins would definitely be helpful in understanding biological systems.

This ingenious technique allows us to see the desired molecule on a huge computer and further enables us to see its various configurations in static as well as dynamic states just by the click of a mouse. This further helps in predicting the binding sites of the molecule and thus gives an idea about its interaction with other molecules.

This is particularly helpful in drug designing when we are developing pharmaceuticals targeted against some specific molecules inside the body. Reaction mechanisms can be foreseen. Moreover, with the human genome decoded, there has arisen the scope for studying innumerable molecules that could find immense use in molecular biology, immunology or pharmacology.

Molecular modeling is thus basically a computer tool, which also requires a working knowledge of mathematics as molecular structuring on the computer involves handling geometrical figures and toying with them in various dimensions.

Indeed, techniques like this reflect not only the zenith of technology but also a greater understanding of a few pages of the book of life.

-Nivedita M Shori