Structural Biology of Pathogens

Structrual biology allows one to venture into their artistic side. However, deciding what colors to choose to depict a mactomolecular structure is not always easy. Following a couple of simple rules, the image below, and subsequent web-sites can simplify the procedure. This is particularly useful for the color blind scientists that have difficulty distinguishing colors such as red and green. The rules are:

1. Colors in the same wedge are compatible.

2. Colors opposite one another are contrasting and thus compatible.

3. Three colors located equivalently apart are called a "triad" and compatible.

4. Four colors located equivalently apart are called a "tetrad" and compatible.

5. The RGB for each color is indicated in the color wheel for easy selection with most software.

The above color chart was modified from http://colorwheelco.com/

An excellent web-site that allows users to identify proper colors is http://colorschemedesigner.com/

Computer Animation:

The use of sophisticated software traditionally used by the movie and game industries (e.g. 3DS MAX, Maya, Cinema 4D, Softimage...) is becoming more routine with the new generation of structural biologists to visualize molecular mechanisms. There are a number of web-sites that offer tutorials for making still and animated images. A few include:

http://www.molecularmovies.com/

http://www.autopack.org/

Autodesk, the developer of 3DS MAX, Maya, and Softimage is particularly generous to the academic field. Browse through their web-site to become more familiar with their products (http://www.autodesk.com/). You'll be shocked and pleased with what you find!

Welcome to the Khayat laboratory located in The City College of New York (Manhattan). We are a recently established structural biology research group focusing our studies on molecular machines involved in pathogenesis and cellular viability. The website is currently under construction and thus contains limited information on our research aims.