Yes. Nanome puts students in VR headsets and students on laptops into one live session, looking at the same molecule and following the same presenter, since version 2.5 joined web and XR users in the same room. Laptop students join at app.nanome.ai with the workspace's link or 8-character code, and a free account covers view-only collaboration with headset users. A student who gets motion sick can take the headset off and keep following from a browser, and glasses up to 142 mm wide fit inside a Quest with the spacer that ships with it.
Mixed refers to devices here. Headsets, laptop browsers and, since 2.6, tablets and phones through the web app's touch input all reach the same workspace. Passthrough, which shows the real room around the molecule, is a separate setting on standalone headsets (main panel docs).
Running a mixed session
A workspace holds a lesson's structures, scenes and permissions, and the session guide recommends building it in the web app, because work done there opens on every other device as well. Every workspace has a short code, and anyone who enters it joins at the workspace's global permission level. Setting that level to Viewer before the code goes out keeps the prepared material intact.
In a headset the code goes under Join Workspace in the Workspaces tab, and in a browser it goes in the same place at app.nanome.ai. An invite to a student's exact email address gives that student a level of their own.
| Classroom moment | Control in Nanome | Permission it takes |
|---|---|---|
| Joining the lesson | The workspace code or link, from a headset or app.nanome.ai | Whatever level the code grants |
| Keeping everyone on the instructor's view | Spotlight Me for the instructor, Follow for everyone else | Viewer |
| Stepping through the lesson | Previous and Next scene | Viewer |
| A student showing the class what they see | Spotlight Me | Viewer |
| A student changing representations or moving structures | Make Editor, from the (...) menu beside their name | Editor |
| Taking the class to the next workspace | Load for All | A prompt for anyone without access |
Following works across devices. Followers see the spotlighter's name with a crown, plus a Stop button to break away and look on their own (Scenes Panel), and a browser student can follow a headset user's view directly. Pointers sit relative to the structure, so a pointer on a residue lands on that residue for everyone (collaboration docs).
Because a Viewer can already spotlight, a student presents without edit rights. When the presentation needs a change to the structure, Nanome's permissions guide suggests raising that student to Editor for the activity and back to Viewer afterward. A free account's collaboration stays view-only, so a student who edits in the shared session also needs a paid seat, which the classroom license breakdown covers.
Since v2.5, workspaces also live inside projects, so a course's workspaces sit together, and the headset's workspace list filters to one project (main panel docs). The scene menu guide and the post on modern molecular presentations cover building the sequence a class steps through.
Large classes and several sections
The session guide sizes a workspace by conversation. One holds up while the group fits in one conversation, and past that the guide splits the group and gives each part its own workspace built from the same material. A change one group makes then stays with that group, and each workspace stays light, which headsets notice first.
Of the guide's 3 build routes, one is describing the workspace to a coding agent that builds it through Nanome's MCP server, which suits turning one lesson into a workspace per group. Each workspace carries its own code, so each group gets its own room.
Between sections, the prepared original stays at Viewer. A Viewer can't edit representations or arrange structures, so the next section finds it as built.
Four checks from the session guide are worth running before students arrive:
- Position Molecules off. Spotlight doesn't work properly while it's on.
- Boundaries reset. Each headset resets its play boundary with the Meta Quest button before the session.
- Headsets on a network that reaches Nanome. Headsets on a separate, slower network are the usual reason they lag while browsers run fine, and the setup guide lists the hosts to allow.
- Hardware acceleration on in the laptops' browsers. A workspace that loads to a black screen usually means it's off.
Casting a headset to a screen
Meta's casting sends one headset's view to a phone or computer on the same Wi-Fi and Meta account. An organization-managed Quest casts to a browser URL with a code, and up to 15 people can watch at once if the admin allows it.
For a projector, a laptop that has joined the workspace and follows the instructor does the same job inside Nanome. Students on their own laptops get more from joining than from a cast: the live scene, a Stop button that hands them their own view, and a way back to the presenter.
Comfort, glasses and students who opt out
In Nanome the student stays put and the molecule moves. The environment docs describe every structure loading into a central area that shifts and scales as a whole, with avatars placed in a circle around it, so nobody travels through a virtual space.
Comfort in a headset tracks frame rate, and the session guide rates 72 FPS or better as Comfortable. Frame rate falls as more atoms are shown, so hiding what a scene doesn't need keeps a lesson smooth.
Meta's health and safety warnings list motion sickness among the possible effects of any headset, and suggest new users start with 30 minutes followed by a 15-minute break. That rhythm fits a rotation, where one student per group wears the headset while the others follow from laptops. A student who feels unwell takes the headset off and carries on in the browser.
Glasses fit inside a Quest with the spacer that ships with the headset, for frames up to 142 mm wide and 50 mm tall. Larger frames take a third-party spacer or prescription lens inserts, per Meta. For shared headsets, the setup guide suggests a facial interface that wipes clean.
A student who opts out sees the same structures from a laptop, moves through the same scenes and follows the same presenter.
For limited hand mobility, a headset user can change colors, rendering styles and visibility by speaking to MARA, the AI copilot inside Nanome, as of v2.4.0. The XR keyboard takes dictation since v2.6, and Settings offer a left-handed mode and a far grab that pulls a distant molecule to the hand (main panel docs).
Evidence a curriculum committee can cite
A paper the Journal of Chemical Education published online in December 2020, listed on Nanome's publications page, describes a VR lab in an undergraduate biochemistry course. Over 200 students across 8 lab sessions worked in pairs on standalone Quest headsets, and the authors surveyed their perceptions and self-reported learning.
A 2025 paper in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education sets out 5 Nanome exercises, covering protein structure, active sites, amino acid chirality and ligand-enzyme interactions, with assessment built into the exercises and resources for instructors. All the surveyed students rated the activities somewhat or very helpful, and 85% reported more interest in biomolecular structures.
Both rest on student surveys, so they back claims about engagement and perceived learning more than exam results. The publications page carries more under its Education & VR Learning filter, nanome.ai/edu has classroom videos and the academic license features, and nanome.ai/case-studies covers research and industry projects.
Nanome Classic and mixed classes
Quest 2 and Quest Pro run Nanome Classic (v1.24), per the hardware page. In Classic, a student without a headset uses a 2D desktop mode on Windows that can spectate and record but can't interact with structures (FAQ).
A mixed class therefore runs best on current Nanome, with headsets such as Quest 3 and 3S alongside browsers. The differences are laid out in Nanome Classic vs Nanome v2, headsets in which VR headsets work with Nanome, and first-day setup in setting up Nanome on classroom Quest headsets. Lesson ideas are in teaching chemistry and biology in VR, and trial timing is in is Nanome free.
FAQ
Can I cast a headset to a screen instead?
Yes, through Meta's casting, which reaches up to 15 browser viewers from an organization-managed Quest. Students who join from their own laptops see the same view and can also break away to explore.
How do I reset the workspace between sections?
Keep the prepared workspace at Viewer, so no section can change it, and start each section from the first scene. Rebuild any group workspaces a section edited from the original material, and use Reset position on anything moved with Position Molecules.
Can the session be recorded?
Scene Recording, added in v2.6, captures a walkthrough with text and audio annotations, and it plays back in Nanome Web. For the live class as students saw it, a laptop following the instructor can be screen-recorded.
Can a student join from a tablet?
Yes. The web app added touch input for tablets and phones in 2.6, so a tablet joins with the same code as a laptop.
Does each student need a separate invite?
No. Anyone with the workspace code joins at its global level, so one code read aloud or posted in the course chat covers the class. Each student still signs in with their own Nanome account, and a free one joins view-only. Sending a workspace to one colleague gets its own treatment in a post on sharing structures with a team.