Students from the first year Bsc. Nanobiology have made this final exercise for the course Biomolecular Programming. They have designed a program in the programming language Phyton that simulates a part of the blood brain barrier and the passage of proteins through this barrier.
The blood brain barrier (BBB) is a tightly controlled barrier that prevents proteins and specific molecules to enter the brain from the blood. The BBB is comprised of an epithelial cell layer that is tightly sealed off. For proteins to pass this cell layer they have to be taken up by the cells in a process called endocytosis. First, proteins bind to the cell membrane or transmembrane receptors in it. Second, the protein is endocytosed and ends up in an endocytic vesicle inside the cell. A vesicle can then be transported either to the lysosome, where all proteins will be degraded, or towards the cell membrane, where it can be released again though a reversed process called exocytosis.
Students that took the effort to add biological relevant creative or extra elements to the final assignment or with outstanding code are listed below, in random order, showing their simulations.
Hereby we present to you the best programs of the year 2025!