Virtual gene lab online

UNSW's molecular biology department has collaborated with the university's fine arts department to launch a unique online genome research laboratory, Visualising the Science of Genomics (VSG).

"This was just a beta project that was scheduled to run for two weeks," said senior lecturer and co-convenor of the project, Dr Kathy Takayama. "But the response has been so good and enthusiastic that we will keep it going for longer."

Takayama collaborated with the senior lecturer in design at UNSW's College of Fine Arts, Rick Bennett, to produce the virtual lab, using a specially developed 3D modelling framework called Omnium.

Originally developed as a teaching tool, the virtual lab was accessed and used by students and senior academics from 24 universities, in 11 different countries, working together on genomic sequence analysis.

"We had students from international teams all looking at bioinformatics analysis, using data from a public genome database so there were no security or privacy issues. They were exploring new ways to apply genomic information," noted Takayama.

"The teams were working to produce 3D models of the data, studying mother-child subjects and other groups to look at vaccine targeting for HIV patients," she said.

The object of the trial, said Takayama, was to test the viability of the system as a tool for multidisciplinary teams to model data. The teams were made up of students, scientists, mathematicians and specialist researchers from around the world including Australia, Asia, Europe, Canada and the US.

"This has been an intense two weeks," she added. "As well as a fascinating variety of different approaches, we saw a lot of really strong personal links being made between the participants.

"It's been wonderful. What we'd really like to do next year is expand the concept to include sociological aspects, drug impacts and responses too. We will run that for longer as well, ten to twelve weeks, and with more data.

"The whole thing was so open ended, with such a rich structure that some of the local scientists simply fell in love with it. It's been really exciting," she said.