Computer-aided analytic and visualization tools for atructural studies

Abstract

Structural biologists typically acquire data in the form of a two-dimensional image (or set of images) from which the three-dimensional structure of the object of interest must be inferred. Examples can be found over a range of sizes spanning many orders of magnitude, and covering structures from the macroscopic to the atomic scale. A correspondingly wide range of different instruments is used in the collection of this data, from CT/MRI scanners, through light and electron microscopes, and recently, atomic force instruments. The images which are collected from these instruments may be in the form of a series of 2D slices through the 3D data set (and these may be either physical sections or optical sections) or a series of to mographic 2D projections of the 3D dataset. In either case it is highly likely that computer software tools will be used on the data set eitheras an aid in the qualitative interpretation of the structure or as a means of extracting quantitative morphological measurements.