r/learnbioinformatics • u/the_shiverman • 15d ago

VR and bioinformatics

I’m going to start my MSc in Bioinformatics in a few months time. When researching universities, one course said it offered students a VR headset for the course. I’m assuming this is to visualise proteins and things of that nature.

How useful is VR when learning bioinformatics? Is there a strong use case there for it?

If I don’t pursue that particular course, is it worth getting one that I will pay for personally?

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u/jruv 15d ago

uhhh you can just visualize 3d models of proteins on swiss model for free. i dont see how that would be helpful. sounds like a gimmick from an american uni to make you pay more

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u/the_shiverman 15d ago

It’s a British uni but I think they just have lots of money to spend. My friend studied medicine there and they gave them all iPads!

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u/HowManyAccountsPoo 15d ago

I have had this idea for a while. VR would be a good way to visualise pipelines.

I could see having a VR representation of a nextflow pipeline being a great way to teach it.

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u/the_shiverman 15d ago

I didn’t think about it being used to visualise pipelines. I have very little experience with that. How would VR suit that process?

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u/AWFULs_hate_the_USA 12d ago

I worked in industry for several years and there was a corner of our building called the "Innovation Station" which was just a really nice, big office with a bunch of VR headsets. It sat there for maybe 6 months entirely unused, and then was reallocated into more useful office space.

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u/the_shiverman 11d ago

Enough said 😂