Team

Why this project

Many viral capsids have icosahedral symmetry built from repeating protein subunits. The Caspar–Klug triangulation number, T, defines how many smaller triangles tile each face of the icosahedron — and so how many subunits the capsid has, and how pentamers and hexamers are organized. A good interactive visualization makes the relationship between T, lattice structure, and capsid architecture immediate. Inspiration: foldavirus.org.

What a team could build in one day

An interactive viewer that lets users:

• Pick a T-number (T=1, 3, 4, 7, …) and see the corresponding icosahedral lattice render in real time.
• Toggle layers: underlying icosahedron, triangular subdivision, asymmetric units, capsomers, pentamers/hexamers.
• See the 12 required pentameric positions highlighted on the topology.
• Compare how subunit count and complexity grow with T.

The minimum viable demo is selecting a few T-values and getting clear, labeled geometry.

Educational value

This is useful for biology, structural biology, virology, and chemistry education — it turns a piece of math that often appears as static figures into something students can manipulate.

Stretch directions

• Map real PDB capsids onto the lattice and highlight the asymmetric unit.
• Cut-away / cross-section views.
• Annotated guided tours (e.g. “build T=3 from T=1”).
• Export figures or short animations for teaching.