Osaama Shehzad, a computational biology sophomore, has created an app called “Game of Proteins” to help undergraduates learn amino acids.

“The idea for my app came toward the end of my freshman year, when I saw a friend of mine using flashcards,” he explained. “I realized that an idea doesn’t need to be something complicated. It can be really simple, but smart.”

Shehzad wanted to use his skills in the programming language of Python, which he learned in Fundamentals of Programming and Computer Science. Python is a language rarely used to make apps, but Osaama found a tool that translates Python code automatically into native mobile code.

“Game of Proteins” has three main sections: names, types and letters. Users view images of amino acid structures in random order, then recall either the name of the acid, its type or its three-letter abbreviation, depending on the section.

Game of Proteins is currently available as a free download for Android devices.