In 2022, Maritan et al. released the first ever macromolecular model of an entire cell. The cell in question is a bacterial cell from the genus Mycoplasma. If you’re a biologist, you likely know Mycoplasma as a common cell culture contaminant.
Now, through the work of app developer Timothy Davison, you can interactively explore this cell model from the comfort of your iPhone or Apple Vision Pro. Here are three reasons why I like CellWalk:
1. It’s pretty
The visuals of CellWalk are striking. The app offers a rich depiction of the cell, allowing the user to zoom from the whole cell to individual atoms. I spent a while clicking through each protein I could see to see if I could guess what it was or what it did. Zooming out, CellWalk offers a beautiful tripartite cross section of the cell, showing first the lipid membrane, then a colourful jumble-bag of all its cellular proteins, and then finally the spaghetti-like polynucleic acids.
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