Macromolecular Crowding & Protein Folding — 2D

Real cytoplasm is not dilute buffer — it is packed with other proteins, RNA and sugars occupying 20–40% of the available volume. This simulator renders that crowded environment as a 2D schematic slice: crowder disks fill a pannable, zoomable box at an area fraction you control, while a single protein chain drifts between an extended, unfolded coil and a compact, folded globule. The transition probability is not scripted — it comes from a real scaled-particle-theory excluded-volume free energy, combined with the protein's own intrinsic stability, updating live as you change crowder size, crowder density, chain length and intrinsic stability. A side energy panel breaks down the insertion free energies of each conformation, and a scrolling history strip tracks the chain's radius of gyration as it samples the fold/unfold equilibrium over time.