DiVE into Alcohol: A Biochemical Immersive Experience

Abstract

We present DiVE into Alcohol, a virtual reality (VR) program that can be used in chemistry education at the high school and college level, both as an immersive experience, or as a web-based program. The program is presented in the context of an engaging topic--the oxidation of alcohol based on genetic differences in metabolism within the liver cell. The user follows alcohol molecules through the body to the liver and into the enzyme active site where the alcohol is oxidized. A gaming format allows the user to choose molecules and orient them in 3D space to enable the oxidation reaction. Interactivity also includes choices of different forms of the enzyme based on the genetically-coded structure and rates of oxidation that lead to intoxication vs sickness. DiVE into Alcohol was constructed with the use of a variety of software that provide enzyme structure (¿ pdb¿ files, MolProbity, 3D Kinemage), modeling (Autodesk Maya¿), and VR technology (3DVIA VirTools¿) .