As part of a community science project, I participated in a project called Etch-A-Cell – VR. This project was part of a multi-national team where are trying to bring a deeper understanding of cancer cells. Their concept is that by mapping 2D cancer cells and then transforming those images into a 3D virtual reality model of the cells, as scientist would be able to “walk” through the cell, and even inside the cell. The expected goal is that becoming intimately familiar with the structures of and within the cancer cells, they will be better placed to make advancements in cancer research in the future.
Image with mitochondria outlined
First, the researchers take complete images of slices of cancer cells using an electron microscope. These slices are then mapped to identify the individual elements of the cell, this is where the community part comes into play. There are thousands of images that need to be mapped. The mapping process involves someone manually drawing around each image, and once complete, these will be able to be stitched back together to create the 3D VR model. I worked on mapping mitochondria. This task was surprisingly interesting. There was a quick tutorial to help you become acquainted with how to identify mitochondria in a cell, and then you started work. There are five sequential slices supplied for each image and you are to outline the mitochondria on the middle one, the other slices are there to help identify mitochondria.
Image showing outline from previous iteration
The process was quite Zen. You could really block out the world and just focus on going through the images, identifying mitochondria…or not, not every image had mitochondria present. I learned little about the overall makeup of a cancer cell, but I know have quite a solid idea of how to identify the mitochondria. The images will go through several stages of mapping, with each stage focused on a different part of the cell. Sometimes, the images had markings already identifying different cell parts. There was even an integrated chat feature where you could ask questions about specific images and get help if required. Sometimes, I found myself just logging in to do some mapping if I needed a break, to reset my mind between other tasks.
If you’re looking for a way to relax and help science at the same time, you go do a lot worse than mapping some images for Etch-A-Cell – VR.
Etch-A-Cell – VR link:- https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/h-spiers/etch-a-cell-vr
Hey Christopher,
I saw this on Zooniverse and also found it very fascinating. I love how you described that this process was “zen” and “relaxing”for you because I guess I would have never though about mapping cancer cells in VR to be described that way. I think that speaks to the accessibility of this project in helping people who are not familiar with cancer cell mapping be more acquainted with it through this project.
This not only hit home for me because my brother recently had a brush with cancer, but it thoroughly intrigued me. It is fascinating how advance cancer research has become and how the utilzation of virtual (V.R) and other technological plaforms have evolved our understanding of the disease. I agree that these studies can lead to progress in both fully understand and combating cancer now and in the future. I loved your breakdown and display of the process, it was elementry and effective. Even without being a cytologist, I get the point. If I ever get the chance to do something like this in the future, I will be taking full advantage.
Christopher,
I find this to be an intriguing use of technology to further scientific research. While traditional mediums have provided more analog, less interactive approaches to conveying information, technology provides the promise of a more engaging means to do so. Mapping the cancer cells is an application of VR that I never thought of but can fathom its helpfulness in training medical professionals to identify the presence of cancer in a patient, and hopefully can allow for early identification and treatment.
This is very interesting, I wonder how exactly creating these 3D models of cancer cells will help future cancer research. This is intriguing to see how modern technology and something that is very intriguing to me, 3D printing, could help with cancer research.