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PhD: Tangible molecular interface and AR for molecular science

Ph.D : Tangible molecular interface and augmented reality for molecular science and rational drug design

Project

We propose to design, develop and evaluate a 3D interactive environment for molecular biology and rational drug design, combining tangible molecular interface and augmented reality. The aim is to augment a tangible molecular interface, with augmented reality features directly displayed on a modular, articulated, wireless and markerless physical molecular model. The main issue is to provide robust 6-degrees-of-freedom tracking of this tangible interface, to display in interactive time augmented reality features directly on the physical model during its construction and manipulation. The objective is to be able to benefit from the advantages of tangible interfaces in terms of direct interaction to build and manipulate molecules that intrinsically have many degrees of freedom, while offering at the same time the advantages of visualization, allowing dynamic management of the displays, adding new molecular components, changing its visual representation modes, and to provide innovative interactive and collaborative workspace dedicated to molecular biology and drug design.

Keywords: Tangible Interface, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, Molecular Biology

Required skills

Applicants with a Master's degree or equivalent in Computer Science with excellent academic results. Practical experience and a good level in computer development (C++/C#) and 3D modelling and/or human computer interaction and/or XR is required. Basic knowledge in molecular biology would be appreciated. A strong level in english is required to be able to write scientific papers and talk at scientific conferences.

Available hardware and software environments

Augmented Reality headset (Hololens…) or/and Immersive Virtual Reality headset (Oculus, HTC Vive…). ART Tracking system. The developments will be done with the Unity 3D tool, in C#, using the available tracking libraries (ARToolkit, ARTTrack...). Molecular Visualisation and Interaction design will be done with Unity 3D.

Context

The work will be carried out on the campus of the University of Paris Saclay in Orsay at the CNRS laboratory LISN (Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Pour les Sciences du Numérique), in the “VENISE" Virtual and Augmented Reality research team. The campus is 30 minutes from the center of Paris, and 2 hours from the sea. This project is funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR PIRATE 2021) led by Antoine Taly at Laboratoire de Biochimie Théorique (head : Marc Baaden). The partners of this project have multidisciplinary research background including computer science, electronics, molecular biology and pharmacy.