Schrödinger User Symposium

I spent a couple days at the Schrödinger User Symposium in Portland recently. I was really impressed with the topics presented at the conference. I was humbled at how little I know about computational chemistry, but I appreciate the geniuses working in drug discovery. For example, one speaker (Michael Podvinec) shared about the development of drugs to treat a viral infection called Dengue Fever. This disease affects 50 million people and kills 12,000 per year . The people working on a cure or vaccine for this and other deadly diseases analyze complex 3D molecules to determine whether compounds can perform a needed function. Although I don’t understand the composition and functionality of these drugs – I was a physics guy – I do see the need to have an accurate understanding of the three-dimensional structure of these molecules and binding sites.

Many computational chemists use stereo to analyze complex molecules. We showed our StereoMirror technology to the symposium attendees and had a very positive response. A number of Maestro users said our monitor was the best stereo display they had ever seen. I believe we can provide a very good tool for viewing protein structures in 3D without compromising the image quality or comfort that people are used to seeing on a 2D monitor. Perhaps an SD monitor will contribute to the success of developing a cure for some awful disease. I hope so.