By employing the technology of virtual reality to study the inner workings of the human cell, a Health Center research team is developing “The Virtual Cell,” a computer system that will simulate cell behavior. When it becomes fully operational, The Virtual Cell will allow scientists to model the inner workings of cells, from producing energy, to performing their specialized tasks, to replicating, growing old and expiring. At the time of the grant award, the NIH designated the virtual cell project a National Biomedical Technology Resource.

The Virtual Cell program is easy for scientists to use, accessible via the Internet, fast and economical. It is expected to improve productivity and save time and money by allowing scientists to more efficiently design experiments on cells. Scientists around the world with hypotheses on cell behavior could refine their ideas on The Virtual Cell program before taking the experiment to the laboratory.

In the future, scientists will be able to use the program to better understand the complex biological behavior of cells and drug manafacturers could use it to test the efficacy of various compounds on the function of cells. Reducing the expense, time and resources consumed by traditional means of testing could mean that new, life saving drugs would be available sooner and at less cost.