Oxford University researchers have developed a way to match molecules of the same shape using the relative position of the atoms in a given molecule, an innovation that could be used to identify potential drugs very quickly. Similar shaped molecules are likely to have similar bioactive effects, causing a smaller medicinal effect in the human body. The 3D shape of a molecule is currently found by superimposing it over another molecule and measuring how much it overlaps, but this new technique, known as Ultrafast Shape Recognition (USR), maps and stores the relative position of atoms in the molecule, creating an accurate mathematical picture of its shape. The system allows molecules to be compared quickly and without concern for orientation in the database, which could prove extremely valuable given the billions of molecules currently contained in many databases. The technology could also be applied elsewhere. "Being able to match 3D objects is an important problem that might become even more important as we get more and more 3D models of our world--such as Google earth," says Carnegie Mellon image analysis expert Luis von Ahn. However, Imperial College molecular analysis expert Henry Rzepa says "part of the problem is that too little 3D shape information in a usable form actually exists. Even for molecules, proper 3D coordinates which define these shapes are all too rare."