For one of my cell biology classes this quarter our group has to make a model figure of one part of the X-inactivation process. Looking through the papers, the model figures are very attractive (and obviously not hand-drawn) so I’m wondering if anyone knows of a computer program that people use to make these?
For examples of what I’m talking about, look at the figures in this paper.
It looks like something from ChemBioDraw. Even the student version is $$$, but that is the sort of thing you need.
From the looks of it, Adobe Illustrator. I am a grad student in the natural sciences, and Illustrator is the program I use for generating/refining figures. Unfortunately it also costs a bundle of money.
If you need something that your university likely provides for free, you may be able to make those types of flowchart/model figures using PowerPoint and then export the group as an image.
Your university may well have a site license for ChemBioDraw. Ask at the chemistry office. You will have to use the campus computers. Also, you can ask your professor.
I did use Illustrator for one project. It takes a lot more time to draw those objects nicely, but that was before the “Bio” portion of ChemDraw came out. I would definitely have used ChemBioDraw had it existed.
I do all my drawing with PowerPoint. It’s simpler than most graphics programs and I already have it. It’s the one Microsoft application I really like.
I think you could also use the presentation tool in Google Docs.
Those clouds in the figures look almost identical to PowerPoint’s thought ballooon “callout”.
It is clear that the images are of the PowerPoint variety, can the OP mention if any 3d models are needed?
I have done illustrations like that professionally. You can either buy Illustrator and learn how to do it yourself . . . or hire an artist.
If you don’t have institutional access to Illustrator or ChemBioDraw, you might try the open-source Inkscape. I don’t frequently use open-source software personally, but this one is pretty good (albeit with a few bugs here & there.)
You will definitely manage to do this sort of things with PowerPoint (or the free OpenOffice drawer if you don’t have MsOffice). Lot of people publish PowerPoint graphics in scientific articles, so no shame doing that 
Illustrator is more powerful than PowerPoint but awfully complex to use.
A professor isn’t likely to spend money on a program like illustrator when ChemBioDraw is available with features specifically designed for these drawings. I find it hard to believe that contemporary drawings in journals are Illustrator or PowerPoint. Every lab I know has ChemBioDraw.
Admittedly, the standard may be different in biology. Without the specific need to draw chemical structures, I’m not certain that a specialty program is all that much more useful. I can tell you that drawing good chemical structures in Illustrator is next to impossible, particularly when each journal has it’s own guidelines for font, bond length, bond thickness, and bond angles.
That said, as an undergrad, I’ll bet a PowerPoint drawing is the norm. Definitely don’t waste your money on anything you will only use once.
Yep, for an undergrad project, don’t sweat it. Use whatever you know best. It’s not really worth learning a “better” piece of software for a single project in a single class. Powerpoint isn’t very elegant, but it does the job well enough. As far as I know all of the model figures and molecular biology cartoons in our lab have been made in powerpoint.
Yeah, as an undergrad PPT should be fine.
Illustrator is used extensively to make the figures and tables in journal articles. The old “make the graph in Excel and fix it up in Illustrator” trick is pretty universal. The plus side of Illustrator is that once you learn it, you can do anything.