Atomica

Atomica lets you explore a detailed model of Mycoplasma genitalium, one of the smallest living things. Built from Scripps Research’s cellPACK model, it places about 120,000 proteins, ribosomes and strands of DNA and RNA inside a membrane of 660,000 lipids. You are the size of a couple of atoms, and the cell is a three-kilometre climb.

Explore the cell

Run across proteins, double-jump between them, grab walls and climb. Ligands can launch you upward, and a global leaderboard tracks the fastest times for getting out of the cell. Point at objects to learn what they are and what they do; you can also open proteins to see their atoms, with binding sites highlighted in gold.

Perform reactions

Collect ligands and dock them into binding sites. When a substrate fits its enzyme, the reaction takes place. You can run glycolysis, a sequence of nine enzymes, to make ATP. The game also simulates the movement of phosphoglycerate kinase’s atoms in real time using the OpenMM force field.

Sound and activities

The soundscape turns real cellular activity into sound, including Brownian motion, ribosomes adding amino acids and ATP synthase’s rotor turning a hundred times per second. Quests, cards and riddles, eight Steam achievements and a visitor waiting above the cell provide other things to discover.

VR exploration

In VR Explore, you can fly through the cell using a PC VR headset. The climbing, docking and information panel are available only on a flat screen.