Eric Martz
Ph.D., Professor Emeritus
University of Massachusetts, Amherst (USA)
Last updated: December, 2021
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Eric Martz teaching at Osaka University, Japan, 2009, in Keiichi Namba's
Protonic Nanomachine Group. Photograph courtesy of Akihiro
Kawamoto.
(T-Shirt)
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For 25 years, I have been developing the online resources below for researchers, educators
and students.
In 2020, they are,
in aggregate, accessed more than 1,000 times/day.
Since 1997, I have been
developing innovative, widely-used, award-winning tools for
visualization of macromolecular structures in education,
research, and structural bioinformatics. These are all free and
open source. I have been coauthor on
more than a dozen peer-reviewed journal publications
in structural bioinformatics.
I retired from
teaching immunology
in January, 2004. I did
research
in cell biology and immunology 1965-1997, publishing
46 research
reports and 19 reviews.
Macromolecular Visualization and Structural Bioinformatics
I. Active Projects
-
MolviZ.org:
Educational Macromolecular Visualization Tutorials & Resources including
structures of DNA, hemoglobin, antibody, MHC, lipid bilayers and channels,
water, and more.
About 600 visitors/month (Jan-Oct 2020). Over half a million visitors since inception.
Portions first offered in 1996. MolviZ.org domain name starting fall 2004.
Includes:
-
Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.
Animations of the priming and membrane fusion
transformations provided in August, 2020. Accessed about 1,500 times/month in 2020.
-
Hemoglobin Tutorial
with animations of structural changes during oxgenation,
sickle hemoglobin,
open-ended study questions, and an online quiz with immediate feedback.
Converted to JSmol and updated with new content in 2018.
Accessed about 700 times/month in 2020.
-
DNA Structure, a non-linear tutorial
inviting self-directed exploration. First available in 1996.
Re-incarnated in JSmol, improved, and translated to 16 languages thanks to
Ángel Herráez.
Accessed more than 2,000 times/month in 2020.
- The Ramachandran Principle
showing clashes in real time as phi and psi angles rotate.
Available in
interactive 3D,
and in an
Animated Slideshow,
and as a
YouTube Video.
Online quiz with immediate feedback.
YouTube video accessed about 1,300 times/month since release in 2018.
-
Top Five
Molecular Visualization Resources for the Rest Of Us
(top5.molviz.org): Tutorials, Exploration Tools, & Communication Tools
that work on Windows and Mac OS X without installing anything,
and will remain available for years to come. About 300 visitors/month in 2020.
- Our illustrated
Atlas
of Macromolecules
(atlas.molviz.org)
provides a handy source of examples to educators
and students. First available in 2002. Last updated 2016. About 200 views/month in 2020.
- Proteopedia.Org is a wiki
(a user-annotated website) that connects interactive 3D molecular
structure views to explanatory text. It was created in 2007 by Joel Sussman,
Eran Hodis, and Jaime Prilusky at the Weizmann Institute of Science,
Rehovot, Israel. I joined their team in 2008, and have contributed
more than 150 articles that have been accessed
>2,000,000 times in total.
[Hodis et al., 2008.
Prilusky et al., 2011.
- The ConSurf Server
(consurf.tau.ac.il)
automatically
identifies evolutionarily conserved surface patches on proteins.
Developed by
Nir Ben-Tal, Fabian Glaser, Tal Pupko, Elana Erez et al. at Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
I provided integrated 3D visualization, initially with Protein Explorer,
and later with FirstGlance in Jmol.
First available Fall 2002.
[Ashkenazy et al., 2016;
Landau et al., 2005;
Glaser et al., 2003.]
-
PACUPP: Pockets And Cavities Using Pseudoatoms in Proteins.
A downloadable program for identifying and visualizing pockets, cavities, tunnels, and channels in macromolecules. First available December, 2020.
-
MSAReveal, a display system for multiple protein sequence
alignments. First available Fall, 2016.
- Short Courses in
Practical Macromolecular Visualization and Structural Bioinformatics
(workshops.molviz.org)
can be arranged, and have been hosted in Israel, Spain, and Japan as well as in the USA.
II. Former Projects
- Protein Explorer
(proteinexplorer.org):
Popular 1998-2006 for exploring, understanding, and qualitative analysis of
structures of proteins and protein-ligand or protein-drug interactions.
MERLOT Classic Award
for Biology in 2003: "has revolutionized the teaching of biology at a
molecular level". Adopted as a visualization option by
several bioinformatics resources.
First offered in 1998; developed until 2007, when the MDL Chime plugin
upon which it depends became increasingly problematic.
[Martz, 2002.]
- The
World Index of Molecular Visualization Resources (formerly molvisindex.org):
a visitor-maintained database (presaged wikis), first offered in 2000. Inadvertantly taken out of service
by a staff error in 2010. Archived snapshot (no longer editable) is still viewable at
archive.org
-
PDB Lite (formerly pdblite.org), by Eric Martz and Jaime Prilusky.
Formerly mirrored worldwide, a simple search interface that
helped beginners find published protein structures. First available
1998. Decommissioned 2010.
- The Molecular
Visualization Freeware EMail Discussion provided an international
forum for educators and developers. Founded 1995. Fell into disuse by 2010, superceded by
the Jmol Users List.
-
RasMol Classic Site provided the most complete
documentation available for RasMol 2.6, a popular macromolecular
visualization tool by Roger A. Sayle. Website developed 1995-2000.
Subsequent RasMol development:
rasmol.org.
Martz Publications in Cell Biology and Immunology.
2005 Formal Curriculum Vitae
1997 Informal Biographical Sketch
Ceramic art of my parents, Karl Martz
and Becky Brown
Former teaching: (I retired from teaching immunology courses
effective January, 2004.)