Bioinformation metaverse: Current status, challenges, and future research themes

Muyao Liu; Zhihan Lyu; Ciao Zhang; Jinlong Wang; Yi Pan; M. Shamim Hossain; Abdulmotaleb El Saddik

doi:10.54517/m2721

Publication Frequency

Quarterly (since 2025)

Journal Articles

Search scope

Journal Center

Asia Pacific Academy of Science Pte. Ltd. (APACSCI) specializes in international journal publishing. APACSCI adopts the open access publishing model and provides an important communication bridge for academic groups whose interest fields include engineering, technology, medicine, computer, mathematics, agriculture and forestry, and environment.

more

Volume Arrangement

2025

2024

2023

more

Featured Articles

Garment-aware gaussian for clothed human modeling from monocular video

Reconstructing the human body from monocular video input presents significant challenges, including a limited field of view and difficulty in capturing non-rigid deformations, such as those associated with clothing and pose variations. These challenges often compromise motion editability and rendering quality. To address these issues, we propose a cloth-aware 3D Gaussian splatting approach that leverages the strengths of 2D convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and 3D Gaussian splatting for high-quality human body reconstruction from monocular video. Our method parameterizes 3D Gaussians anchored to a human template to generate posed position maps that capture pose-dependent non-rigid deformations. Additionally, we introduce Learnable Cloth Features, which are pixel-aligned with the posed position maps to address cloth-related deformations. By jointly modeling cloth and pose-dependent deformations, along with compact, optimizable linear blend skinning (LBS) weights, our approach significantly enhances the quality of monocular 3D human reconstructions. We also incorporate carefully designed regularization techniques for the Gaussians, improving the generalization capability of our model. Experimental results demonstrate that our method outperforms state-of-the-art techniques for animatable avatar reconstruction from monocular inputs, delivering superior performance in both reconstruction fidelity and rendering quality.

From paper to virtual: The meta-life of a historical cartographic artifact

The Charta of Rigas Velestinlis is one of the most important works of the eighteenth-century Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment and the most characteristic sample of Greek scholar cartography. Printed in Vienna in 1220 copies in 1796-1797, this emblematic map of the Balkan peninsula significantly influenced the development of ideas and perspectives that inspired the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821. The sixty (60) known remaining copies of this valuable material in Greece and abroad remain stored in the confined spaces of libraries, museums, and archives, strictly guarded for security, conservation, and preservation. This renders their access difficult to both the general public and the educational community. Since the Onassis Library and the General State Archives of Greece—Cartographic Heritage Archives both possess an original copy of this historical document each, they design and implement many educational programs aiming at highlighting its importance and reintroducing it to the public. This paper will present how the usage of new technologies, both in software and hardware, has facilitated the showcasing of cultural heritage artifacts, such as Rigas’ Charta, with an emphasis on technologies and resources that are freely available to everyone. It will also be demonstrated how the digitization projects, the digital libraries, repositories, and platforms implemented by many cultural and research organizations during the last decade, presented the opportunity for the new generation to come in contact with a variety of “locked away” historical documents, like Rigas’ Charta, allowing their reuse and reinterpretation while providing unlimited potential for the collection, research and presentation of facts, evidence and data. Furthermore, the incorporation of this digital cultural wealth in the school curriculum through targeted educational programs and the creative combination with open-source metaverse development tools, unleashed the possibilities of reviving the past, extending the life span of old materials to perpetuity. As a result, this multimodal approach paved the way for the emergence of a new more democratic, open-access, and inclusive educational model.

Deciphering avian emotions: A novel AI and machine learning approach to understanding chicken vocalizations

In this groundbreaking study, we present a novel approach to interspecies communication, focusing on the understanding of chicken vocalizations. Leveraging advanced mathematical models in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, we have developed a system capable of interpreting various emotional states in chickens, including hunger, fear, anger, contentment, excitement, and distress. Our methodology employs a cutting-edge AI technique we call Deep Emotional Analysis Learning (DEAL), a highly mathematical and innovative approach that allows for the nuanced understanding of emotional states through auditory data. DEAL is rooted in complex mathematical algorithms, enabling the system to learn and adapt to new vocal patterns over time. We conducted our study with a sample of 80 chickens, meticulously recording and analyzing their vocalizations under various conditions. To ensure the accuracy of our system’s interpretations, we collaborated with a team of eight animal psychologists and veterinary surgeons, who provided expert insights into the emotional states of the chickens. Our system demonstrated an impressive accuracy rate of close to 80%, marking a significant advancement in the field of animal communication. This research not only opens up new avenues for understanding and improving animal welfare but also sets a precedent for further studies in AI-driven interspecies communication. The novelty of our approach lies in its application of sophisticated AI techniques to a largely unexplored area of study. By bridging the gap between human and animal communication, we believe our research will pave the way for more empathetic and effective interactions with the animal kingdom.

Bioinformation metaverse: Current status, challenges, and future research themes

Muyao Liu, Zhihan Lyu, Ciao Zhang, Jinlong Wang, Yi Pan, M. Shamim Hossain, Abdulmotaleb El Saddik

Article ID: 2721
Vol 6, Issue 2, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54517/m2721

Received: 11 May 2024; Accepted: 24 April 2025; Available online: 11 June 2025; Issue release: 30 June 2025

Download PDF

Abstract

The bioinformation metaverse proposed in this paper is founded on bioinformatics, which takes the big data of biology to collect, filter, display the visual, calculate, merge, simulate, and optimize the big biology problem during the analysis process with the application of high-end information-processing technologies to solve the high-dimension, high-complexity problem for the bioinformation metaverse field. It can realize multi-scale traversal from atomic layers and molecules to proteins and complete biological systems. They are important for bioinformation metaverse construction and development. Multi-source data fusion and analytics methods are important in efficiently interpreting high-dimensional and high-complexity biological systems from atomic layers to molecules. In this paper, the application of the metaverse in six aspects (molecular manipulation, biological perception, protein structure study, decentralized technology, interactive simulation, and visualization) is analyzed further, highlighting the significance of the bioinformation metaverse for bioinformatics research and development. The multi-layered and closely connected biological information system can be built up to make life-science study and technology research more efficient.

Keywords

bioinformation metaverse; molecular manipulation; protein structure analysis; biological perception

References

1. Saha SK, Saikot FK, Rahman MdS, et al. Programmable Molecular Scissors: Applications of a New Tool for Genome Editing in Biotech. Molecular Therapy-Nucleic Acids. 2019; 14: 212-238. doi: 10.1016/j.omtn.2018.11.016

2. Gillyard T, Davis J. DNA double-strand break repair in cancer: A path to achieving precision medicine. Chromatin and Genomic Instability in Cancer; 2021. doi: 10.1016/bs.ircmb.2021.06.003

3. Peng W, Cracco E, Troje NF, et al. Does anxiety induced by social interaction influence the perception of bistable biological motion?. Acta Psychologica. 2021; 215: 103277. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103277

4. Wu X, Li E, Liu Y, et al. Artificial multisensory integration nervous system with haptic and iconic perception behaviors. Nano Energy. 2021; 85: 106000.

5. Kuhlman B, Bradley P. Advances in protein structure prediction and design. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology. 2019; 20(11): 681-697. doi: 10.1038/s41580-019-0163-x

6. Chen Y, Wang Z, Wang L, et al. Deep generative model for drug design from protein target sequence. Journal of Cheminformatics. 2023; 15(1). doi: 10.1186/s13321-023-00702-2

7. Petcu A, Pahontu B, Frunzete M, et al. A Secure and Decentralized Authentication Mechanism Based on Web 3.0 and Ethereum Blockchain Technology. Applied Sciences. 2023; 13(4): 2231. doi: 10.3390/app13042231

8. Korpal G, Scott D. Decentralization and web3 technologies. Authorea Preprints; 2022. doi: 10.36227/techrxiv.19727734.v1

9. García-Redondo P, García T, Areces D, et al. Serious Games and Their Effect Improving Attention in Students with Learning Disabilities. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019; 16(14): 2480. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16142480

10. DeFalco JA, Rowe JP, Paquette L, et al. Detecting and Addressing Frustration in a Serious Game for Military Training. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education. 2017; 28(2): 152-193. doi: 10.1007/s40593-017-0152-1

11. Zhao Y, Jiang J, Chen Y, et al. Metaverse: Perspectives from graphics, interactions and visualization. Visual Informatics. 2022; 6(1): 56-67.

12. Chen CT, Chen SY, Liao CH, et al. An interactive nanomanipulation visualization based on molecular dynamics simulation and virtual reality. Transactions of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering. 2013; 37(3): 991-1000. doi: 10.1139/tcsme-2013-0085

13. Trexler CC, Morelan AE, Oskin ME, et al. Surface Slip From the 2014 South Napa Earthquake Measured with Structure From Motion and 3‐D Virtual Reality. Geophysical Research Letters. 2018; 45(12): 5985-5991. doi: 10.1029/2018gl078012

14. Chavent M, Vanel A, Tek A, et al. GPU‐accelerated atom and dynamic bond visualization using hyperballs: A unified algorithm for balls, sticks, and hyperboloids. Journal of Computational Chemistry. 2011; 32(13): 2924-2935. doi: 10.1002/jcc.21861

15. Baaden M, Burgard M, Wipff G. TBP at the Water-Oil Interface: The Effect of TBP Concentration and Water Acidity Investigated by Molecular Dynamics Simulations. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B. 2001; 105(45): 11131-11141. doi: 10.1021/jp011890n

16. Baillif B, Cole J, McCabe P, Bender, A. Deep generative models for 3D molecular structure. Current Opinion in Structural Biology. 2023; 80: 102566.

17. Binnig G, Rohrer H. Scanning tunnelling microscopy. Helvetica Physica Acta; 1982.

18. Sivarajah I. Atomic Force Microscopy: General Principles and Applications. Azo Optics; 2021.

19. Zhang W, Fine JA, Sculley C, et al. Molecular Interactions Using New Technology: A Virtual Reality Gaming Platform to Visualize and Manipulate Molecules. Biological and Medicinal Chemistry. 2019. doi: 10.26434/chemrxiv.9889994.v1

20. Axen SD, Huang XP, Cáceres EL, et al. A Simple Representation of Three-Dimensional Molecular Structure. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 2017; 60(17): 7393-7409. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.7b00696

21. Kuťák D, Vázquez P, Isenberg T, et al. State of the Art of Molecular Visualization in Immersive Virtual Environments. Computer Graphics Forum. 2023; 42(6). doi: 10.1111/cgf.14738

22. Bender C, Vestergaard P, Cichosz SL. The History, Evolution and Future of Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM). Diabetology. 2025; 6(3): 17.

23. Ma X, Ahadian S, Liu S, et al. Smart Contact Lenses for Biosensing Applications. Advanced Intelligent Systems. 2021; 3(5). doi: 10.1002/aisy.202000263

24. Said S, Karar AS, Beyrouthy T, et al. Biometrics Verification Modality Using Multi-Channel sEMG Wearable Bracelet. Applied Sciences. 2020; 10(19): 6960. doi: 10.3390/app10196960

25. Glowacki BR, Freire R, Thomas LM, et al. An open source Etextile VR glove for real-time manipulation of molecular simulations. arXiv; 2019.

26. Amores J, Richer R, Zhao N, et al. Promoting relaxation using virtual reality, olfactory interfaces and wearable EEG. In: Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE 15th International Conference on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks (BSN); 2018. doi: 10.1109/bsn.2018.8329668

27. Baaden M, Marrink SJ. Coarse-grain modelling of protein-protein interactions. Current Opinion in Structural Biology. 2013; 23(6): 878-886. doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2013.09.004

28. Jamialahmadi H, Khalili-Tanha G, Nazari E, Rezaei-Tavirani M. Artificial intelligence and bioinformatics: a journey from traditional techniques to innovative approaches. Gastroenterology and Hepatology from Bed to Bench; 2024.

29. Gligorijević V, Renfrew PD, Kosciolek T, et al. Structure-based protein function prediction using graph convolutional networks. Nature Communications. 2021; 12(1). doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23303-9

30. Das R, Keep B, Washington P, et al. Scientific Discovery Games for Biomedical Research. Annual Review of Biomedical Data Science. 2019; 2(1): 253-279. doi: 10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-072018-021139

31. Buterin V. A next-generation smart contract and decentralized application platform. White Paper; 2014.

32. Zarrin J, Wen Phang H, Babu Saheer L, et al. Blockchain for decentralization of internet: prospects, trends, and challenges. Cluster Computing. 2021; 24(4): 2841-2866. doi: 10.1007/s10586-021-03301-8

33. Balakrishnan A, Jaglan P, Selly S, et al. Emerging trends of blockchain in bioinformatics: A revolution in health care. Distributed Computing to Blockchain; 2023. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-323-96146-2.00018-8

34. Stefanović M, Pržulj Đ, Stefanović D, et al. The proposal of new Ethereum request for comments for supporting fractional ownership of non-fungible tokens. Computer Science and Information Systems. 2023; 20(3): 1133-1155.

35. Poon J, Buterin V. Plasma: Scalable autonomous smart contracts. White paper; 2017.

36. Cabot-Nadal MÀ, Payeras-Capellà MM, Mut-Puigserver M, et al. Improving the token ERC-721 implementation for selective receipt: rejectable NFTs. In 2022 6th International conference on system reliability and safety (ICSRS). IEEE; 2022. pp. 243-250.

37. Marin O, Cioara T, Anghel I. Blockchain Solution for Buildings’ Multi-Energy Flexibility Trading Using Multi-Token Standards. Future Internet. 2023; 15(5): 177. doi: 10.3390/fi15050177

38. Senior AW, Evans R, Jumper J, et al. Improved protein structure prediction using potentials from deep learning. Nature. 2020; 577(7792): 706-710.

39. Baid SK, Bandyopadhyay A, Srivastava P, Swain S. Metaverse Using Game Theory in Healthcare. In Healthcare Services in the Metaverse. CRC Press; 2024. pp. 134-153.

40. Taylor S, Soneji S. Bioinformatics and the Metaverse: Are We Ready?. Frontiers in Bioinformatics; 2022. doi: 10.3389/fbinf.2022.863676

41. Lin H, Wan S, Gan W, et al. Metaverse in education: Vision, opportunities, and challenges. In 2022 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data). IEEE; 2022. pp. 2857-2866.

42. Xu H, Berres A, Shao Y, et al. Toward a smart metaverse city: Immersive realism and 3d visualization of digital twin cities. Advances in Scalable and Intelligent Geospatial Analytics. 2023; 245-257.

43. Ghanbarzadeh R, Ghapanchi AH. Uncovering educational outcomes deriving from students’ acceptance and involvement with 3D virtual worlds. Education and Information Technologies. 2020; 26(1): 311-337. doi: 10.1007/s10639-020-10272-7

44. Baaden M. Deep inside molecules—digital twins at the nanoscale. Virtual Reality & Intelligent Hardware. 2022; 4(4): 324-341. doi: 10.1016/j.vrih.2022.03.001

45. Choi J, Lee EJ, Jang WB, Kwon SM. Development of biocompatible 3D-printed artificial blood vessels through multidimensional approaches. Journal of Functional Biomaterials. 2023; 14(10): 497.

46. Arunkumar P, Surendiran B, Suresh S, Sankaranarayanan V. Zero-Knowledge Proof Approach for DNA STR Profile Security using Blockchain: A Framework for Enhancing Genetic Privacy. NFSU—Journal of Cyber Security and Digital Forensics; 2024.

47. Park YH, Kim Y, Shim J. Blockchain-Based Privacy-Preserving System for Genomic Data Management Using Local Differential Privacy. Electronics. 2021; 10(23): 3019. doi: 10.3390/electronics10233019

48. Bohua L, Yuexin W, Yakun O, et al. Ethical framework on risk governance of synthetic biology. Journal of Biosafety and Biosecurity. 2023; 5(2): 45-56. doi: 10.1016/j.jobb.2023.03.002

49. Zeng Y, Bao A. From Virtual Reality to Metaverse: Ethical Risks and the Co-governance of Real and Virtual Worlds. International Research Center for AI Ethics and Governance; 2022.

50. Corringer PJ, Baaden M, Bocquet N, et al. Atomic structure and dynamics of pentameric ligand-gated ion channels: new insight from bacterial homologues. The Journal of Physiology. 2010; 588(4): 565-572. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2009.183160

51. Thomson L L, Peabody Jr A E. Privacy and security challenges in bioinformatics//Bioinformatics, Medical Informatics and the Law. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022: 205-247.

52. Zhang Z, Bajic VB, Yu J, et al. Data integration in bioinformatics: current efforts and challenges. Bioinformatics-Trends and Methodologies. 2011; 41-56.

53. Valdivia-Granda W. The next meta-challenge for Bioinformatics. Bioinformation. 2008; 2(8): 358-362. doi: 10.6026/97320630002358

54. O’Donoghue S I. Grand challenges in bioinformatics data visualization. Frontiers in Bioinformatics. 2021; 1: 669186.

55. Xie Y, Zhang J, Wang H, et al. Applications of Blockchain in the Medical Field: Narrative Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 2021; 23(10): e28613. doi: 10.2196/28613

56. Ratta P, Kaur A, Sharma S, et al. Application of Blockchain and Internet of Things in Healthcare and Medical Sector: Applications, Challenges, and Future Perspectives. Khan R, ed. Journal of Food Quality. 2021; 2021: 1-20. doi: 10.1155/2021/7608296

57. Siyal AA, Junejo AZ, Zawish M, et al. Applications of Blockchain Technology in Medicine and Healthcare: Challenges and Future Perspectives. Cryptography. 2019; 3(1): 3. doi: 10.3390/cryptography3010003

58. Haleem A, Javaid M, Singh RP, et al. Blockchain technology applications in healthcare: An overview. International Journal of Intelligent Networks. 2021; 2: 130-139. doi: 10.1016/j.ijin.2021.09.005

Refbacks

There are currently no refbacks.

This site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Academic Supporter

Institute for Metaverse, School of Artificial Intelligence, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), China

Editor-in-Chief

Prof. Zhigeng Pan

Director, Institute for Metaverse, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, China

Honorary Editor-in-Chief

Prof. Jianrong Tan

Academician, Chinese Academy of Engineering, China

Indexing & Archiving

News & Announcements

2025-05-20

Call for papers for SIGGRAPH ASIA 2025!

Conference Time

December 15-18, 2025

Conference Venue

Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center (HKCEC)

...

2025-04-23

Metaverse Scientist Forum No.3

Metaverse Scientist Forum No.3 was successfully held on April 22, 2025, from 19:00 to 20:30 (Beijing Time)...

2025-04-21

Congratulations to Metaverse on being indexed in Scopus!

We received the Scopus notification on April 19th, confirming that the journal has been successfully indexed by Scopus...

2025-04-15

Updated Submission Guidelines for Manuscript Figures!

We are pleased to announce that we have updated the requirements for manuscript figures in the submission guidelines. Manuscripts submitted after April 15, 2025 are required to strictly adhere to the change. These updates are aimed at ensuring the highest quality of visual content in our publications and enhancing the overall readability and impact of your research. For more details, please find it in sumissions...

More Announcements...

Article Tools

Indexing metadata

How to cite item

Review policy