Stereo Pictures

The HAV 3C protease, in 3D. Remember those magic eye pictures where you had to stare at a picture out of focus and hope to see the hidden image pop out at you? Well, there actually is a practical application of my magic eye skills. In my area of science they often determine the structure of a molecule through a process called X-ray crystallography. A protein that I work with is called HAV 3C and my collaborators at the University of Alberta have determined the structure of the protein. They published the structure and here is an image of it in three dimensional glory. So, if you cross your eyes in just the right way while staring at the picture you can look at the 3D structure of my protease. It might be easier looking at the larger image. Good thing I spent all those hours perfecting my eye crossing skills.