New biomedical animations make theirdebut10 April 2014, by Alan Gill

Biomedical animator Dr Maja Divjak has released a newanimation, 'Inflammation and type 2 diabetes'.

Three new Australian biomedical animations willdebut today, showcasing a world of pulsating cells,writhing proteins and dividing DNA as they captureAustralian research and bring it to life.

The animations, premiering today at an event atFederation Square, were created as part theInspiring Australia project VIZBIplus. InspiringAustralia is the national strategy for engagementwith the sciences, working across all levels ofgovernment and industry to promote science andscience literacy in Australia.

VIZBIplus was launched in 2012 to train three newbiomedical animators in communicating the latestAustralian biomedical research through inspiringand engaging three-dimensional animations.

Dr Maja Divjak from the Walter and Eliza HallInstitute of Medical Research, Dr Kate Pattersonfrom the Garvan Institute and Mr Chris Hammangfrom CSIRO created the new animations, and werementored by internationally renowned biomedicalanimator Mr Drew Berry from the Walter and Eliza

Hall Institute.

The animations cover a range of topics from cancerand type 2 diabetes to resistant starch, and arebased on research being done at their hostorganisation.

Dr Divjak said her animation, Inflammation and type2 diabetes, highlighted how diseases associatedwith inflammation, such as type 2 diabetes, were'lifestyle' diseases that represented one of thebiggest health risks in our society.

"My animation looks at the role of the newly-discovered protein called the inflammasome in type2 diabetes, which is being studied by researchershere at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute," DrDivjak said. "The inflammasome is a really amazingstructure employed by the immune system toprotect the body from infection. However, it alsoplays a key role in the development andprogression of chronic immune diseases such astype 2 diabetes."

Dr Patterson from Sydney's Garvan Institute saidher animation, Cancer is not one disease, focusedon the role of a 'tumour suppressor' protein calledp53 in the development of cancer. Tumoursuppressor proteins can detect genetic changes incells that may cause cancer and can preventtumours from growing.

"Mutated p53 is just one of the thousands ofmistakes that can occur in cancer," Dr Pattersonsaid. "DNA sequencing and other new technologiesnow enable these mistakes to be detected inindividual cancers. What's really exciting is thatdifferent types of cancer can share some molecularmistakes, which means treatments developed forone cancer could be used to treat another."

Mr Hammang from CSIRO, Sydney, said hisanimation, The Hungry Microbiome, described howstarch was broken down in the gut. He said the

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animation was based on research into 'resistantstarch', which protected against colorectal cancer."I hope viewers will see the importance of eatingbeans and other foods rich in resistant starch," MrHammang said.

Project leader Dr Sean O'Donoghue from CSIROsaid animations were an important communicationtool for the science community.

"We are in the middle of a communicationrevolution, and I see animation as one of the keysto unlocking the mysteries of science," DrO'Donoghue said. "In modern science, we arediscovering very complex phenomena that areoften hard to communicate because they areoccurring at a molecular scale. Biomedicalanimations have the power to make these invisibleevents visible."

More information: All of the animations areavailable online: www.vizbi.org/plus/

Provided by Walter and Eliza Hall Institute ofMedical ResearchAPA citation: New biomedical animations make their debut (2014, April 10) retrieved 24 June 2018 from https://phys.org/news/2014-04-biomedical-animations-debut.html

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