这项研究中，研究人员利用先进技术调查了DNA的3D结构，DNA在3D空间中的排列方式往往会对人类健康和**发生带来巨大影响，DNA折叠方式的细微变化都会在特定的时间里影响基因的开启和关闭，而这会直接对细胞行为产生影响，如今研究人员正在尝试追踪人类**的发病原因，并且开发新型的**手段。

研究者Jim Hughes教授表示，如今我们越来越清楚细胞能够将2米长的DNA整合成比头发丝还细10多倍的结构，当然了，这并不仅仅是一种随机的过程，我们希望对这种复杂的DNA结构进行深入剖析来理解在任何时间段到底是基因组哪部分在发挥作用，从而就能帮助我们阐明诱发人类**的原因。

研究者设计了一种名为Csynth的软件来帮助在3-D模式下解析基因组的复杂结构，该软件能够将来自基因组测序、计算机模拟和高功率显微镜的数据进行整合进行综合性分析，如今研究者就希望利用虚拟现实技术对实验室中产生的大量数据进行观测和分析。提到该软件，研究者Stephen Taylor博士认为，随着遗传学技术的发展，如今我们能够利用来自患者和志愿者提供的大量生物学数据进行研究，在Csynth的帮助下，我们将不同实验所得的数据进行整合来帮助科学家们理解DNA的折叠机制，此外，利用Csynth软件中的虚拟现实模式还能够帮助我们以一种更为直接的方式对复杂的DNA 3-D结构进行可视化研究。

如今研究人员就可以利用“艺术”来更好地理解并且进行科学概念的设计，Csynth软件不仅能够加速科学研究的进展，还能够帮助公众共享一些信息；*后研究者Frederic Fol Leymarie表示，通过将数学、物理学以及计算机游戏技术相结合，我们就能够对现实中的分子互作进行编程操作，同时也会让人们沉浸在DNA的动态世界中，Csynth软件将利用其虚拟现实的功能让我们与机体生命的结构密切接触。（生物谷Bioon.com）

原始出处：

Researchers use virtual reality to unpack causes of common diseases

Researchers from the University of Oxford are using a unique blend of virtual reality and innovative genetic techniques to understand the causes of diseases such as diabetes and anaemia.

The team, working in collaboration with physicists from Universita' di Napoli and software developers and artists at Goldsmiths, University of London, are using the state-of-the-art technology to investigate the 3-D structure of DNA. The way in which DNA is arranged in 3-D space has huge consequences for human health and disease. Subtle changes in DNA folding impact on whether genes can be switched on or off at particular times – dictating what a cell can do. It is this process that the team are trying to get to the bottom of in the hunt for the causes of disease, and potential new treatments.

The scientists are presenting their research at the Royal Society's annual Summer Science Exhibition.

Prof Jim Hughes, Associate Professor of Genome Biology, University of Oxford, said: "It'sbecoming increasingly apparent that the way that a cell fits two metres of DNA into a structure more than ten times smaller than a human hair, is more than just a random process. We are dissecting this intricate folding to understand which parts of our immense genome are interacting at any one time, helping us understand whether changes in this process can cause disease."