Example of individual protein: Cascade surveillance complex of the Type I CRISPR bacterial immune system from Escherichia coli (2015). The Cascade protein complex (blue) bound to the crRNA guide strand (orange). (PDB: 4tvx)
Example of molecular landscape: Zika Virus (2016). Viruses top and left with envelope proteins (red), membrane proteins (magenta), lipid membrane (light purple), RNA genome (yellow), and capsid proteins (orange). Target host cell bottom-right with cell surface receptors (green). Blood plasma molecules (yellow).
Goodsell has developed a signature style of scientific drawing. He started painting early in his childhood but did not study art in college.[8] In graduate school, Goodsell became interested in scientific illustration while writing molecular graphics programs to visualize protein and DNA structures.[8]
Goodsell's signature style uses generally very flat shading, with strong and simple colour-schemes.[9] As is typical in medical illustration, the images are simplified representations of the subject that still retain accuracy of the important features.[10][11] His illustrations fall broadly into two categories: individual proteins, and cellular panoramas.
His images of individual proteins are typically computer generated, cell-shaded space-filling representations of proteins, often with cut-aways to show internal binding sites and cofactors. Conversely, his illustration of cell interiors (sometimes called molecular landscapes) are hand-painted in watercolours.[12] They are typically slices through a cell with highly simplified protein structures in a flat style in order to capture overall organisation without overwhelming detail.[13] These cell interiors are often displayed at an effective 1,000,000x magnification for consistency.[14][15] The paintings therefore share a consistent style, aiming to make interpretation easy and as intuitive as possible.[16]
His illustrations are published in the "Molecule of the Month" series by the Protein Data Bank (PDB), an archive of protein structures.[8] His illustrations are used as teaching tools,[17] in textbooks, in scientific publications,[10] and as journal cover art.[18]
For individual proteins, Goodsell's illustrations are directly generated from solved protein structures deposited in the PDB using custom computer renderings that he wrote in Fortran (now released as an online illustration tool).[19]
In 2022 Goodsell was the recipient of the Carl Brändén Award.[22] The award honors an outstanding protein scientist who has also made exceptional contributions in the areas of education and/or service.
^Sousa, Sérgio Filipe; Fernandes, Pedro Alexandrino; Ramos, Maria João (2006). "Protein–ligand docking: Current status and future challenges". Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics. 65 (1): 15–26. doi:10.1002/prot.21082. ISSN1097-0134. PMID16862531. S2CID21569704.
