The world now stands at the threshold of the age of nanotechnology, and biologists have been exploring here for years. As a nation, our imagination has already leapt ahead to the day when it will be possible to touch proteins within living cells, to tug on DNA as it is transcribed and to unfold an adenovirus to expose the DNA within.

Scientists need, and we are building, instruments and interfaces that enable scientists to extend their eyes and hands into this new nano-world. We are building visualization systems that intuitively map the additional sensing made available by these microscopes into the human senses, and control systems that project human actions directly into this world. Such systems enable new types of exploration and whole new classes of experiments in the biological and physical sciences. These experiments' needs in turn drive the development of ever-improved interfaces and instrumentation.

Our Resource aims to provide tools that are, like a lens, transparent and easy to use, yet as powerful and as versatile as contemporary computing technology can make them - tools that enable direct viewing of, and interaction with, real and simulated macromolecules, viruses, and cells. Virtual filters enable the transformation and overlay of multiple data sets in order to map them from the raw instrument data formats onto more natural and useful views. Computer graphics enables direct visual comparisons between a scientist's conception of an object (as seen in the mind's eye) and the object of study - either a model stored within a computer or a real, physical object scanned by a probe microscope. Haptic (force-feedback) display coupled to the microscope's tip enables real-time exploration of the properties of real and simulated objects, touching and moving them to feel how they respond. Our goal is to enable the scientist to pay great attention to the experiment and little to the tools, rapidly and easily chasing down "what if" scenarios as they present themselves.

Our fundamental modes of operation are to provide direct and natural visualization and control between biologists and their tools, and to create new tools. Our Resource aggressively pursues new and emerging technologies in interactive computer graphics, bringing them to bear in bio-science. We focus on solving real driving problems in the life sciences, which push our core research and development efforts. This solution-oriented approach ensures that our results are relevant to our collaborators' research, rather than only of academic interest in computer science.

The search for solutions to real-world problems constantly pushes us to expand the current state-of-the-art in computer science (display devices, rendering techniques, haptic feedback, collaborative systems, user interaction techniques, volume visualization, …). This driving-problem approach keeps us doing forefront work in our own discipline. We use the best available computer technology to develop effective systems for use by scientists at our Resource, which then become cost-effective and can be deployed on widely-available hardware as technology marches on.

IBM's Peter Fagg said, in the 1960's, "There are three great scientific adventures in our lifetime: going to the Moon, conquering disease, and the computer revolution. Isn't it great to be working in one of them?" This Resource has the immense privilege of bridging two of them.