| Dr. Donald Nicholson |
Leeds Media Services have produced a video for the OzBio 2010 "Molecules of life: from discovery to biotechnology" conference in Australia. The video features biochemist Dr. Donald Nicholson as he talks through his life's work in biochemistry.
The video also features Dr. Nicholson's Metabolic Pathways Chart, Minimaps and Animaps.
Minimaps are designed to supplement the Metabolic Pathways Charts by enlarging selected major individual pathways so as to illustrate additional aspects of metabolism such as Membranes, Compartmentation, Organs, Organelles, Shuttles and Regulation.
Animaps are perhaps the most exciting inovation on this website since they are able to illustrate the animated detailed sequences of biochemical reactions ocurring within the cell. The use of Flash makes it possible to show the flow of reactants into the inside of enzymes where they align exactly with their active sites. These are usually charged amino acids or cations which are an integral part of the enzyme structure. This alignment of the reactant with the structurally positioned active sites explain the lock and key analogy with enzymes and substrates. Flash animation also makes it possible to show the detailed movements of bonds and electrons which are characteristic of biochemical reactions and hitherto generally illustrated as curly arrows in printed publications.
