The Beautiful Brain structure collection accompanies the traveling art exhibit: The Beautiful Brain: Drawings of Santiago Ramón y Cajal.
Neuroscience draws heavily on art. Santiago Ramón y Cajal was both a neuroscientist and an artist who drew pictures of the brain. Today, neuroscientists use many tools for visualizing nerve cells and transmitters, including the Molecule World iPad and iPhone apps. Biologists can learn about protein functions by using coloring and drawing styles to draw attention to chemical and physical properties. This collection of molecules contains receptors that convey information to our cells about the outside world. Try coloring by secondary structure and charge to see where these proteins fit into the cell membrane.
See ideas for exploring the Beautiful Brain Structure Collection.
Structures in the collection
| Type | Description | Download structure |
|---|---|---|
| An MW Collection |
 Receptors for sodium, potassium, and amino acids. To view the collection, you will need to download and install the iPad version of Molecule World. Once Molecule World is installed on your iPad, return to this page and download the entire collection at once by selecting the mwc file. |
 beautiful_brain2.mwc |
| MMDB |
 Sodium channel Crystal Structure of the Navab Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel (Wild Type) 3.2A |
mmdb_4EKW.cn3 |
| MMDB |
 Potassium channel from a Rat Crystal Structure of Kv1.2-2.1 Paddle Chimera Channel in Complex with Lys27met Mutant Of Charybdotoxin |
mmdb_4JTD.cn3 |
| MMDB |
 Potassium Channel from Bacteria Potassium Channel (Kcsa) from Streptomyces Lividans |
mmdb_1BL8.cn3 |
| MMDB |
 Amino Acid Receptor / Ion Channel Crystal Structure of Glun1a/glun2b Nmda Receptor Ion Channel |
mmdb_4PE5.cn3 |