ClareS says "Do you have any particular questions about this section of the course?"
Nada says "Actually I'm a little behind and still working through section8"
ClareS says "OK -- fine -- that's OK, do you have any questions on that section?"
Nada says " I found it quite difficult differentiating between the different Helix types, Is there a way of superimposing structures to make it easier to see the differnce"
ClareS says "you mean, alpha versus 3:10 helix or something similar?"
ClareS says "these are actually difficult to tell apart as structures - don't worry if you have problems"
Nada says " yes , those two and the pi helix"
ClareS says "they are most easily told apart by just calculating and listing phi and psi angles or plotting the proteins on Ramachandran plots"
ClareS says "there are quite alot of programs which will list these angles"
ClareS says "but there are also a lot of programs which will superimpose two proteins"
ClareS says "do you have access to any molecular modelling packages?"
Nada says "not as yet, but I would like to get my hands on some""
ClareS says "there are *some* free programs with more facilities than Rasmol. Have you seen SwissPDBViewer?"
Nada says "I've heard of it but not "played yet""
Nada says "Is MSViewer any good? Something I've just been given!"
ClareS says "I don't know that one at all! Is there a URL with details? Where did you get it from?"
Nada says "From Molecular Simulations www.msi.com"
ClareS says "Molecular Simulations is the company that manufactures most of the best known commercial modelling packages"
ClareS says "so you can expect their software to be good, reliable, but not *that* full of functionality - they need to sell their main products to survive ;)"
ClareS says "Quanta and Insight are both manufactured by MSI"
Nada says "I'l have a play with SwissPDBViewer fistly"
Nada says " I don't really have any other problems,"
ClareS says "it is more powerful than Rasmol and (as far as I can remember) you should be able to superimpose two proteins with it"
ClareS says "it's not *that* easy to install on a PC - you need to install some graphics libraries first, I seem to remember..."
Nada says " I'll have afiddle, though I have a supision that I can not install anything! I may have to go through the IT people here"
ClareS says "that should be fine - that is what they're there fore after all (if you get stuck you could try emailing me, or Dave, or even the PPS list)"
Nada says " I should go " thanks, I should get going now I'ts getting a bit eerie in here, thanks for your time!"
ClareS says "OK, that's fine - I hope that this has been helpful. It's a pity the others couldn't make it"
ClareS says "would you mind this transcript being posted on the Web in case it helps the others?"
Nada says "thats fine"
ClareS says "good luck with the rest of the course - and remember to pass on my regards to John"
ClareS says "hope to see you online again soon"
ClareS turns the ClareS_recorder off.