What is Nanodesigner?
The Nanodesigner project is an attempt to create a software platform for research on nanometer sized objects.
By objects is meant everything that consists of atoms: molecular motors, biomolecules, a crystal slab...
Research encompasses the construction of objects out of atoms within the constraints of the laws of
quantum mechanics (not unlike the use of a CAD software package in the design of a building for example)
and the simulation of its dynamic behaviour in an attempt to find the properties of the object.
Why Nanodesigner?
In the field of bio-informatics there exists already a lot of software and there is a lot of competition concerning molecular visualisation and simulation tools. There are only a few software packages however that are more general in design and allow to build arbitrary objects consisting of atoms from scratch as is necessary in the field of molecular nanotechnology. Visualizing of those objects is an important aspect of design but the simulation of it's dynamic behaviour to find the physico-chemical properties of this object is paramount. Nanodesigner is going to be one of those, a general multi-purpose tool, as it will have a highly modular design from the start and the user will be able to extend it in any way he or she wants by writing or using plug-ins.