Approximately 80 percent of information reaches our brains through our eyes. Evidently, the visualization of the object under consideration is often a means to greatly increase knowledge on it. In particular, such approaches are applied in structural biology. The elucidation of the structures of biomacromolecules and cellular elements at all levels of cell organization, as the subject-matter of this science, is the driving force for the development of modern biology as a whole. The rapid progress achieved in this field in the past years is to a large extent due to advances in X-ray diffraction analysis and new technologies based on the use of synchrotron radiation. The National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" has developed the infrastructure necessary to implement ambitious projects in the field of structural biology. Nevertheless, the state-of-the-art research requires unique experimental mega facilities, and their creation often calls for the combined efforts of several countries. For this purpose, the Kurchatov Institute actively participates in the International (Germany, Russia, and others) project on the construction of a free-electron laser. Scientists working in the field of structural biology pin great hope on its successful implementation. стр. 4 by Mikhail KOVALCHUK, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir POPOV, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Center of Nano, Bio, Info, Cognitive and Social Sciences and Technologies (NBICS Center) at the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" (Moscow) TASKS AND METHODS OF VISUALIZATION The human genome project completed in 2003 has opened a new era in the development of life sciences, and the 21st century is considered to be the Age of Biology. High-throughput methods for investigations of genomes, transcriptomes*, proteomes**, and metabolomes*** are vigorously developed and improved. Systems biology originated from bioinformatic ... Читать далее