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Scientists at a Nottingham drug discovery firm are investigating how they can use augmented reality to rotate virtual molecules and create chemical structures.

Medicinal chemists often use 3D rendering software to visualise the shape of molecules by creating chemical structures they can rotate on a computer screen.

The computational chemistry department at Sygnature Discovery, however, has now reached the prototype stage for an augmented reality product.

Virtual Reality and VR headsets are currently used in the industry, but Dr Steve St-Gallay, principal scientist in the computational chemistry department, said: "It’s good for immersing yourself in a completely different world, but you’re there by yourself.

"AR is different – it brings the virtual world into the real world, along with the people around you. It liberates you from the computer screen. If you want to write notes, for example, you can still see your pen and paper. You can’t do that in a VR world."

 

Sygnature, based at BioCity in Nottingham, is developing a system called VisMol which uses Microsoft HoloLens technology to create the AR world.

Work has taken place to code the basic molecular visualisation platform that allows a person wearing the HoloLens headset to see computer-generated molecular models in the world around them.

The next step to creating a practical work tool is to add the functionality and features already seen in molecular design software.

The ability to collaborate while in the AR world would also be a key advantage of the technology.