BioBlender 2.0. Molecular biology in a narrative form

Can we look at cellular, molecular and structural biology with different eyes? Is it possible to make the characters of life visible as if they were 10 million times larger? As an attempt to give a positive answer to these questions, we have developed BioBlender, a Computer Graphics tool that aims at delivering the 'nature' of molecules in visual form, appealing at our aesthetic and empathic sense, more than to our scientific knowledge. BioBlender, now in its version 2.0, hides the workings of structural biology, and, while keeping scientific rigor as the basis of its vision, reveals the working of proteins and biological molecules in a photo-realistic, and human-accessible form. The program makes use of many tools of structural bio-informatics, and merges them with others which are the realm of computer graphics, video gaming and cinema industry. Using BioBlender we have produced several videos that can be seen by lay-people on one side, but that can also reveal important details of protein dynamics to the experienced scientist. The latest such example, produced as an 'inset' for a documentary movie to be distributed in the cinemas during the summer, will serve as the example for such a new perspective in molecular biology.