As a molecular modeler, you’ve likely faced this frustrating moment: you’ve sourced a structure from the Protein Data Bank or someone shares a dataset they’ve compiled, and when you try to open it in your modeling environment, things either don’t load at all or load incorrectly. Missing atoms, strange bonds, garbled formats—sound familiar?
This pain is often due to incompatible or unsupported file formats. Molecular modeling data comes in a wide array of specialized formats: PDB, MOL2, XYZ, CIF, and many others. And each format can carry complex and detailed information that needs to be interpreted correctly. An error at this stage leads to flawed simulations and lost time.
That’s where SAMSON, the integrative platform for molecular design, brings a quiet but powerful feature to the table: Importers.
What Are SAMSON Importers?
In short, importers are components designed specifically to read and interpret different types of molecular data. A PDB importer knows how to understand atomic positions and chains. An electron density importer can accurately parse .map or .ccp4 files. Each importer is tuned to make sense of a specific file structure—and produce a correct 3D model in your workspace.
When you launch SAMSON, it already includes a set of default importers to cover many standard file use cases. However, the real value becomes apparent when you need to go beyond that. SAMSON isn’t a locked box—it’s a platform. You can add additional importers from SAMSON Connect with just a few clicks. This extensibility gives you future-proof flexibility as your data requirements evolve.
Missing Support? Request or Build Your Own
If SAMSON doesn’t yet support the precise format you’re using—perhaps a niche electron microscopy format or a custom output from another research tool—don’t worry. The SAMSON team actively encourages users to report missing importers. And if you’re comfortable with development, you can even build your own importer extension.
This guide walks you through the process of generating extensions, including importers. You’ll find the tooling approachable, especially if you’re familiar with C++ or scripting workflows.
Evolving With Your Needs
What makes SAMSON’s approach stand out is that it doesn’t aim to force a one-size-fits-all importer onto everyone. Instead, it acknowledges the diversity in molecular modeling files and gives you the tools to tailor your environment accordingly. This minimizes time spent on file conversion gymnastics and maximizes productive work.
If you’re curious what file formats SAMSON currently supports, check the full list here.
TL;DR
- SAMSON ships with a range of built-in importers for common molecular file types
- You can download additional importers from SAMSON Connect
- If a format you need isn’t supported, you can request it or build your own importer
This makes SAMSON a flexible workspace where file format frustrations become rare, not routine.
To learn more, visit the full documentation page on SAMSON Importers.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.