title: The Molecular Biology Toolkit (MBT): a modular platform for developing molecular visualization applications.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The large amount of data that are currently produced in the biological sciences can no longer be explored and visualized efficiently with traditional, specialized software. Instead, new capabilities are needed that offer flexibility, rapid application development and deployment as standalone applications or available through the Web.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We describe a new software toolkit--the Molecular Biology Toolkit (MBT; http://mbt.sdsc.edu)--that enables fast development of applications for protein analysis and visualization. The toolkit is written in Java, thus offering platform-independence and Internet delivery capabilities. Several applications of the toolkit are introduced to illustrate the functionality that can be achieved.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The MBT provides a well-organized assortment of core classes that provide a uniform data model for the description of biological structures and automate most common tasks associated with the development of applications in the molecular sciences (data loading, derivation of typical structural information, visualization of sequence and standard structural entities).
authors.affiliation: San Diego Supercomputer Center, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. moreland@sdsc.edu
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Moreland
authors.forename: Apostol
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gramada
authors.forename: Oleksandr V
authors.initials: OV
authors.lastname: Buzko
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Philip E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Bourne
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D003196:Computer Graphics; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003628:Database Management Systems; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D030562:Databases, Protein; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems; D020407:Internet; D008024:Ligands; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000379:methods*; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D011381:Programming Languages; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D012984:Software; D012985:Software Design; D014584:User-Computer Interface
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D011506:Proteins